Last Sacrifice
by I.Love.Shane.Collins3
Summary: Rose is on a journey to find Lissa's mystery sibling. She ends up globe trotting, until she finds him in the least expected place. She has to make one last sacrifice to get proof of her innocence, but it my just lead to something else.
1. Chapter 1

Last Sacrifice Chapter 1

"83, 84, 85..." I trailed off as one of the guardians watching me spoke. "Rose, can you please stop counting the cracks. I know you don't want to be here but seriously, can you do something else!" asked Guardian Cole. The only thing I've been able to do in this hell hole of a place is count the cracks on the roof as I lay in bed. Actually I wouldn't call this _thing_ a bed, it's more like a concrete slab. Oh well, I guess I better get used of it if I'm going to be living here for the next couple of weeks, or until my untimely death, that I am going to be given for something I didn't even do. Those words still echoed in my head _'they execute traitors'._ Why does everything happen to me? I know I've made a lot of enemies in my life and the way I always stand up to the Queen mustn't have helped much, but still, I don't deserve this.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I immediately sat up on my bed and tried to see who it was. It wasn't until I heard a familiar voice speaking to the guards that I realised who it was. Adrian. He hadn't been visiting me in my dreams lately so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. As soon as he turned the corner to get to my cell that I saw his face. His skin was paler than usual, or, for a vampire at least, he had huge dark rings under his eyes and his hair looked like it hadn't been washed in days. He looked horrible, and it was my entire fault, I realised. Tears started to well up in my eyes as he came to stand behind the bars.

"Little Dhampir..." He whispered. I stood up and walked over to him. He reminded me so much of Dimitri, the look of passion and love in his eyes, the way he smelt... No. Stop it Rose. You cannot think of _him_. _'Love fades, mine has'_. Just thinking those words made me feel worse. "Adrian, you've got to get me out of here" I pleaded. "Rose, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He whispered. I knew how he felt, he must have been miserable. First of all, he realised that I still loved Dimitri and always will, secondly his Great Aunt had just been murdered, and lastly, I was in jail for a crime I didn't commit. Just as Adrian reached through the bars to hold my face in his hand, I realised I'd started crying. "Please Adrian. I love you" the words slipped out before I even realised. How could I be so assuring to Adrian when my heart belonged to Dimitri.

"I'm trying. I'm doing the best I can, Lissa and Christian are too." I already knew Lissa was trying to get me out of here, I sometimes slip into her head to pass the time. "Then at least can you visit me in my dreams" That was the first time I'd actually asked him to visit me in my dreams. Normally I would tell him not to, but right now the circumstances have really changed. "I will, I promise" He answered. I could have sworn I saw amusement in his eyes when he answered me but it was so hard to tell with the giant black rings beneath them. "Goodbye little Dhampir, I love you" he said as he turned around to leave. "I love you too" I whispered.

Once I heard the door that leads to my hallway close, I went back to sit on my bed. I closed my eyes and relaxed, and did what I usually did when I'm bored. Slip into Lissa's head.

She was with Christian and... Mia. They were in Mia's house learning how to fight. If it were up to me I wouldn't have let her do this but, I guess she'll need to learn someday. "Come on Liss, don't hold back. Hit me hard, make it hurt!" Christian told her. "I am!" She lied. "I know your lying, even without a bond" Christian said. Lissa balled up her fist, just like I showed her when I was helping her fight Avery and her brother, and took a swing. She didn't punch him as hard as she could but at least she did better than what she was doing before. Christian got pushed back a little but I think it hurt Lissa more than it did Christian. "That's good but I know you can do better" Christian laughed. "Come on guys, my dad's going to be home from work soon, I think you better leave. You can come back tomorrow at the same time though" Mia told them. "Ok, thanks Mia" Lissa and Christian left Mia's house and started heading back to Lissa's room. Once they got there Lissa went over to the bed and laid down. I just hoped they wouldn't start ripping each other's clothes off. Christian went over and sat next to her, combing her hair back with his hands. "We have to get Rose out" she whispered. "I know we do, but Rose is strong. She can work this out." He told her, sounding unsure of his words. As a tear rolled down Lissa's face Christian quickly wiped it off. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Lissa looked over at it and saw a bright gold aura, with a tinge of darkness around it. "It's Adrian" She told Christian as she got off the bed to open the door. As soon as she opened it, Adrian looked at her, a tear escaping his eye. I'd never seen Adrian cry before.

I slipped back out of Lissa's head and heard footsteps coming down the hallway. I had no clue who it could be if Lissa, Christian and Adrian were in Lissa's room. Then I heard his voice. A sweet Russian accent. It was Dimitri. He asked the Guardian's if he could have a little privacy while he spoke to me, and my heart started to flutter. No. Stop it Rose. You've told yourself over and over that he doesn't love you. He's moved on. He walked over to my cell, staying away from the bars, which I realised I'd walked over to as soon as I heard his voice.

"Roza..." He whispered. I still loved it when he used my Russian nickname. "Dimitri" I whispered back. We stood there for several seconds, gazing into each other's eyes. I loved those deep brown eyes. "Roza, I'm going to get you out of here" He told me. Those fierce eyes telling me he was very serious. "Dimitri, I need you to tell me something. I need you to tell me you love me" I felt a tear build up in my eye and quickly wiped it away. "I would do anything to protect you" He said. That wasn't what I wanted him to say. I wanted him to tell me he loved me and that everything was going to be okay. "I'm going to get you out of here no matter what I have to do" He murmured. "I know you are. I believe you. I _trust_ you" I did trust him. I could feel the note Tatiana gave me burning in my pocket. Could I trust him enough to show him it? The answer was yes. I could trust Dimitri even when I couldn't trust anyone else.

I reached into my pocket and handed him the note. He took a step forward and reached out to get it. As his hand slid across mine, I felt the electricity I always felt when he touched me. He read through it, his expression going hard. Then he read it again before passing it back to me. "Don't tell anyone" I told him fiercely. Then he turned around and headed out. Once I heard the door slam, all of the Guardian's on watch came back out in front of my cell. This was going to be one hell of a time getting out.

I went over to my bed, feeling extremely exhausted and fell asleep almost straight away. I soon found myself in a very familiar place, the ski lodge. I wasn't dressed up spectacularly, just a brown tank top and tracksuit pants. I wore my nazar around my neck and Lissa's chotki around my wrist. Adrian always made me wear my chotki and nazar in these dreams for some reason. I fiddled with my nazar for a few moments before Adrian came into view in front of me. He wore a singlet and tracksuit pants, very unusual for him. His eyes were still ringed by that blackness, obviously from a lack of sleep.

"Little Dhampir" He greeted me. He sounded so sad. I felt sorry for him, especially under all the stress of what's going on. I walked over to him and hugged him. We stood like that for a couple of moments before he leaned down and kissed my forehead. He released his hold, walked over to the steps where we first met and sat down. I then followed and sat down in his lap. We cuddled for a few more moments before he said "Rose, you have to tell me something" It was the same thing I'd told Dimitri so I knew what the answer needed to be. "I love you Adrian, I always will. You are a part of me" I whispered. I wasn't lying of course. I did love him, but I also loved Dimitri. Why can't one love ever be enough.

He leaned back against the hard concrete ground, taking me with him. I then suddenly changed into grass. We were in a garden. "I love you to Rose. It's just that, ever since Dim... He came back, you haven't been the same. I knew you would be different, but, I just can't take things serious until you tell me you want to be with me." He whispered. I knew I hadn't been talking to Adrian as much, especially because I'd been trying to get Dimitri to love me again. "I love you Adrian. Once I get proved innocent, I promise you I will not leave you. When the time comes though..." I trailed off when Adrian put his lips on mine and started to kiss me. It was a long deep kiss that felt like it should've lasted forever. He pulled away and it was all over, I wished it could have lasted longer but I knew Adrian couldn't hold onto these dreams forever. He gave me one last kiss on the forehead, then gave me a smirk and the dream was over.

I woke up a little startled when I saw Adrian in front of my cell. It was weird that I didn't notice how close he was through the dream. He was sitting against the concrete wall in the hallway. As soon as he saw me, he stood up. He looked the guard in the eyes, for some reason there was only one guard right now, and asked with a soothing voice to let him into my cell. It was when the guard got his keys out, I realised he was using compulsion. The Guardian opened up my cell and let Adrian in. He gave the guard a nod and came to sit next to me.

He asked the Guardian if he could have some privacy, the guard gave him a goofy smile and walked away. I heard the door to the hallway slam and then Adrian leaned over me and pressed his lips onto mine. We kissed for a lot longer than in the dream. It was a beautiful kiss. One that told me he loved me very much. He finally lifted his head up and smiled. He handed me a piece of paper, stood up, and left. I quickly unfolded the piece of paper and read the note before the guard got back.

_Rose,_

_We figured out a way to get you out. Adrian slipped a ring into your pocket, it's charmed with spirit. It will make you look like a human. It may not work on some Guardians, so when we come to get you, you need to be ready for anything. Adrian and I will use compulsion on the Guardians to get Christian and Dimitri in. Mikhail will open up your cell and let you out. When you meet up with Christian and Dimitri, make sure you walk, or else you will look suspicious. Once you get out we will take you to the garage and get you out of here. Dimitri said you had a plan for when we get you out, so make sure you're ready. We will get you in 2 hours._

_Lissa xoxo_

I read it twice to make sure I understood, then looked at the clock, which I have been forcing myself not to do for the last week or so. It was 3:00am, midday for vampires, by 5:00am everyone would be going to a council meeting to work out when my trial is being held. That would mean there would be less Guardian's to stop us and less Moroi to see us. Perfect.

I immediately hid the note in my pocket, where I felt the ring Lissa had made. I leaned against the wall and told the Guardian to wake me at 4:30am. He looked a bit confused but nodded. I then went back to sleep and welcomed myself to one of Adrian's dreams.

"Twice in one day" I laughed. Adrian walked over to me with a huge grin on his face. Amazingly, there were no rings under his eyes this time. "I assume you read the note?" He asked. "Yup. Great plan, can you just tell me where I'm going once you get me out of here?" I asked. "That's your job. You're the navigator" He laughed. He then walked over to me and kissed my forehead. I guess that is his way of saying goodbye. The dream disappeared and I went back to my normal sleeping state.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wake up, Rose" The guardian yelled from in front of my cell. I immediately looked at the clock. It was 5:00am. "Sorry I didn't wake you at 4:30... I had to, uh, do something" He apologised. I gave him one of my evilest glares and reached into my pocket. I pulled out the ring and sat it next to me, where the Guardian couldn't see it. A few moments later, I heard some grunts and moans from the doorway. It was time. Mikhail, Dimitri and Christian came running down the hallway and Dimitri began taking on the Guardian in front of my cell. Christian gave me one of his I'm-a-genius smiles and Mikhail unlocked my cell. I slid on the ring and started to walk down the hallway.

Dimitri soon caught up to us as we reached the door. Mikhail and Christian stood beside me but Dimitri stayed behind. Once we reached another hallway leading to the main office building, Mikhail gave us a nod and started heading over to the surveillance room. He had been stationed there for a few weeks before I was put in jail for a crime I didn't commit.

Once we reached the main office I saw Adrian and Lissa. They were both compelling a group of 8 Guardians. I wondered why there were so many Guardians stationed in the main building. "It's about time you got here" Lissa said without taking her eyes off the Guardians. "Now, forget you ever saw us here" Adrian said to the Guardian's. They all nodded, and walked back to where they must have been before I got here. Lissa nodded at me and we all left the building. We were heading to the garage where the Guardian's cars are kept for rescue missions like when we went to save Lissa from Dimitri and the strigoi.

We walked over to where a commodore was parked. I never knew that they kept cars other than SUV's here until now. Adrian got the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car. I headed towards the passenger seat when I noticed Dimitri shaking his head. He then pointed to the boot that Adrian just opened. "Why do I have to get in the boot?" I asked. "Because you might get seen by Moroi passing by" Adrian answered. He threw the keys to Dimitri and went over to the boot. He smiled then hopped in. He was trying to comfort me. I smiled then hopped in next to him.

Lissa closed the boot, and then I heard 3 doors slam. Everyone was in. The car started and we began moving. "So, how was that for a rescue mission?" Adrian asked. I laughed then answered "It's not over yet."

The car soon came to a stop and I heard voices. I slipped into Lissa's head to see what was going on.

"What are you doing here?" asked the Guardian on duty. "We're leaving" said Dimitri. "No your not. The court is in lockdown, no one comes in, no one goes out" The Guardian replied dryly. Lissa then looked him in the eye and I knew what she was doing. "Let us out of here. Open the gate and forget you ever saw us" She asked sweetly. The Guardian walked back over to the booth and the gate opened. I slipped back into my own head and Adrian was staring at me intensely. "Did you just..." He trailed off when I answered "yes". As soon as the car started moving I got a massive headache. It was almost as bad as the one I had on the plane when I first started seeing ghosts. I started seeing shadows. I hadn't realised but I'd started screaming. Adrian was shaking me but I wouldn't stop screaming. The pain was getting worse and worse until we stopped. I heard the boot open and Adrian pull me out.

I sat there, on the ground in complete darkness. I began to see a figure forming in front of me. A bloody figure. It was, Queen Tatiana. She just stood there, looking at me. She had the same look on her face that Mason had had when he was trying to warn me about the strigoi. The look he gave me every time he tried to tell me something. Then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up on a bed in Adrian's arms. Everyone was looking at me, scared. Adrian noticed me waking up and said "Rose, are you awake?" I looked up at him and tried to speak but nothing would come out. I was so tired. He noticed me looking at him and released me. He pulled the blanket up onto me and let me fall asleep.

I then realised I was having another Adrian dream. "Rose, are you okay?" He asked. "Yeah, I can't remember much though. Where are we?" I asked. "We are in New Orleans. You kept saying that is where you needed to be, so we drove here. You have been asleep for 4 days." He answered. "What happened to you? You were fine until we left the court, are you... seeing ghosts?" He asked. "Yeah, as soon as we left the wards I saw... Tatiana. She was trying to tell me something but she couldn't say anything" I told him. We didn't say anything after that. He just looked at me, a little shocked.

He finally asked "Can you let me see her, or any of them?" That caught me off guard. No one had seen Mason at St. Vladimir's, but when I used them to fight Dimitri as a strigoi, he saw them. If a strigoi could see them when I made them visible, maybe a moroi could. Maybe even a spirit user. "Maybe... At St. Vladimir's nobody could see them though. But once, when I was fighting Dimitri as a strigoi, I let my mental wall down and he could see them" I said.

The dream then disappeared and I woke up, suddenly feeling alert and ready. Adrian was sitting next to me, looking at me curiously. The others weren't in the room, so I quickly read Lissa's thoughts and realised she was in a room across from this one.

"Can you try to show me now?" He asked gesturing around the room. "I guess, but it won't last long. I shouldn't be letting them in y'know" I said. I let my mental wall down, it took a few seconds before Tatiana materialised in front of me. Adrian was looking in the same direction I was. After a few more seconds Lissa's parents came into view, then Andre. Adrian looked at me and shook his head. I put the mental wall back up and they were gone. It was just me and Adrian.

"Who was there?" asked Adrian. "It was Tatiana... and Lissa's parents and brother." I answered. "Oh, are you... okay?" He asked. "Yeah I'm fine" I lied. I was feeling so exhausted, like bringing them forth takes a lot out of me. I suddenly felt angry and upset and depressed. "Why did you make me do that?" I yelled. "Calm down Rose!" Adrian yelled. "It's kinda' hard to calm down when people are out looking for you and if they find you they will kill you!" I was screaming now. "Please Rose, calm down. You are not going to die!" He grabbed hold of my shoulders and was shaking me. There was suddenly a knock on the door. "Lord Ivashkov, what's going on in there?" Dimitri called from outside of the room. "Get Lissa and come in here" Adrian called back.

"Why are you getting them in here! I thought you didn't even like Dimitri!" I screamed. I suddenly had the urge to punch someone until the door opened and Lissa, Dimitri and Christian came into the room.

"Calm down Rose" Lissa sat me on the bed. She passed me a necklace, a silver chain with a rose hanging from it. She put it around my neck and the anger went away. I then realised that all of Lissa's compulsion had taken its toll on me. She not only used it to get me out of prison and through the Court gate, she'd used it while I'd been blacked out. She used it to get on the plane, hire a car and get into the motel.

"Feeling better now?" she asked and hugged me. I nodded. Poor Adrian, I must have really upset him, and from the look on his face he wasn't planning on talking to me for a few hours. Lissa stayed with me a little longer before going back to Christian who was sleeping. Adrian went to the bathroom to have a shower and Dimitri went back to his own room.

As soon as I heard the shower turn on I quickly scribbled on a piece of paper;

_Adrian,_

_I have gone to get some fresh air and a bite to eat. I'm so sorry about what I said earlier, I hope we can talk about it later._

_Rose_


	4. Chapter 4

I left that on the bed and went to Dimitri's room. I knew where it was because Liss was thinking about visiting him. She changed her mind so I knew no one would find out I saw him. I knocked on his door and a few moments later he opened it.

"Rose, please, not now" He told me. "Dimitri, let me in" I said. He opened the door wider to let me in and I went over to sit on his bed. He walked over to a leather chair and sat down. He must have been reading before I came here because there was an open book on the side of his chair. It was one of his corny Western novels he liked to read.

"Rose, why did you come here, Adrian and you need to talk" He told me. "I'm here because I need you, back there, with Adrian, I lost it again. He couldn't help me. Remember in the cabin..." he flinched when I mentioned the cabin "...You promised me you would be there to help me when the darkness took over" I managed to look in his eyes, he looked miserable. Not as miserable as Adrian, but he looked, I don't know. It's hard to explain.

I quickly shifted my eyes towards the floor. "That was then, this is different, you have Adrian and Lissa's charmed pieces of silver" he told me. I looked over to the clock and realised I'd left Adrian waiting. I didn't want to leave but I had to.

I hopped off the bed and headed to the door. I took one last look at Dimitri and left the room. I quickly checked the bond and found that Lissa was sleeping. I went back to Adrian's room and found the door unlocked. I walked in and saw him sitting on the bed, under the covers, staring blankly at the window. I walked over to my bag and found a blue tank and some black slacks. I slipped them on and hopped on the bed next to Adrian. I snuggled up to him to get some warmth and he wrapped his arms around me. "What next?" he asked. "I'm going to call a friend" I answered. In the morning, human schedule this time, I was going to call Sydney. I needed to get those papers on Lissa's father.

I pulled the blanket up a little more and drifted off to sleep. I woke up to find Adrian gone. A quick check of the bond told me he was with Lissa and Christian. He was still trying to teach Lissa how to 'dream walk'. I reluctantly hopped out of the warm covers and slipped some clothes on. I was so hungry, so I decided to slip out of the room and head to the buffet breakfast room.

I walked down the stairs to get there and saw Dimitri sitting at a table by himself. I went and sat down beside him, but as soon as I did, he moved his chair over. This was going to be a long day. We sat like that for a while before I finally got up to get some food. They had everything here, including donuts! I grabbed a couple of donuts and when I went to sit back down Dimitri was gone.

I headed back up to the room with a donut in my hand, headed to Lissa's room, and knocked on the door. "Took you long enough" Christian smiled as he opened the door. Liss had a huge grin on her face, so I quickly checked the bond to see what was going on. She'd learnt how to dream walk. Most moroi were sleeping at this time of day, so Lissa had a go at visiting Mia's dream. It had worked, but for only a short amount of time.

Adrian walked out of the kitchen with a pile of silver in his hands and sat it down on the bed next to Lissa. I must have had a weird look on my face because everyone started laughing. Adrian sat down on a leather chair. I walked over to where he sat and sat on his lap. I chucked my legs over the arm of the chair and finished off the last bite of my donut. Lissa picked up a piece of silver. She was going to start making a healing bracelet, to get rid of the darkness around me.

Christian went and sat next to Lissa and I hopped of Adrian's lap. "Can I borrow your phone" I smiled. Adrian reached into his pocket and handed it to me. I made the phone call I came here to make.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sydney?"

"Yeah, Rose, is that you?"

"Yup, I need your help"

"How many this time?"

"None, I need you to meet me at the..." I looked at Adrian and he told me it was a motel called the Royal.

"Meet me at a motel called The Royal"

"You're in New Orleans, I know what happened! Why did you break out... How did you break out?"

"We'll talk later, meet me here at 1:00pm today"

"Okay evil creature of the night"

And with that I hung up. I handed the phone back to Adrian and he asked "Was that the Alchemist?" "Yup" I answered. It was just then that I noticed how pale everyone looked. I remembered none of them have fed in almost four days. Then I had an idea. I couldn't let them feed off me because I might need to fight later. I walked out of the room, down the steps and into the parking lot. Just as I'd hoped, a bunch of drunk ass kids.

"Hey you! Do you wanna' meet my friends" I asked. "If they look anything like you, then sure" One of them answered. I started walking back to the motel and two of them followed. They were slow to get up the stairs, which gave me a chance to open the door to Lissa's room. I quickly told them that I'd bought a snack. Referring to people as food was against my nature but I couldn't help myself.

Christian pulled out a chair and I put two fingers up to tell them two people were coming. The drunk kids stumbled up the stairs, so I walked over and grabbed their arms and dragged them into Lissa's room. I pushed them into the seats and Christian walked over to one. Adrian walked over to the other and looked him in the eye. "You were never here" He warned and sank his teeth into the guy. There was a soft moan and the guy got that goofy smile that all feeders got. After Christian and Adrian were done Lissa walked over to one and took her bite. They were still alive but they looked weak. Adrian and I dragged them back down into the parking lot. We left them by a dumpster and walked back up to the room. Neither of us said anything on the way up. I ducked my head into Lissa's room and told her I was going to have a shower. Adrian followed me back into the room. I walked into the bathroom and took my shirt off. Adrian walked in and brought my face into his hands. He pressed his lips against mine and kissed me long and deep. He pulled back after a few moments and whispered in my ear "Little Dhampir, I will always love you. I know you will always love me too, no matter what happens" He pulled away and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I had a quick shower and spent most of the day doing my hair. I had to tell Lissa why I was here, but how can you tell your best friend her dad was cheating on her mom. The thing is, you can't. Especially when her parents are dead and when she believed they loved each other.

It was almost time to meet Sydney and Liss, Christian, Dimitri, Adrian and I were all waiting in the buffet room. "Liss, there's something I need to tell you," I told her. I passed her the note and she read it several times. I could see tears welling up in her eyes but she was trying hard to keep them controlled. She looked at me, almost pleadingly and said through the bond _We need to talk._

Luckily Sydney had just walked in, a briefcase in her hand. She saw me and walked over to our table. She grabbed a chair and sat down. "Hey Rose" she said. "Vasilisa Dragomir, how nice to meet you. You too Lord Ivashkov. Mr. Ozera and Mr. Belikov" She greeted. Dimitri flinched at the word mister. After he became strigoi he was stripped of his Guardian title.

"You know why I bought you here" I began. "I need those papers" I told Sydney. "Rose, I told you I can't give them to you." She replied. "Well you're gonna' have to" I growled. She jumped at the tone I used. "Well, there is a way I can give them to you, but you're not going to like it" She told me. "I have to tell Abe where you are. You know I work for him and I don't want him to send me back to Siberia!" She pleaded. "Fine, but by the time you tell him, we'll be gone." I growled. She immediately opened the briefcase and handed me a pile of papers. She then stood up and left.

Once she was gone we all piled off the table and got ourselves some lunch. Back at the table Dimitri and Lissa sat next to me to look at the papers. Dimitri was so close to me, I could smell his aftershave, the sweet scent I know off my heart... "What are we looking for?" Lissa asked. "A bank account, an unknown bank account" I told her. I didn't want to upset her. We went through several pages before we found what we were looking for. An unknown bank account was highlighted several times. There were large amounts of money deposited into it once a month.

Lissa stood up and left after seeing it. Christian followed, so did Dimitri. He promised he'd take care of them, make sure they were always safe on this trip. He was still acting like a Guardian, at least. That left me and Adrian. I quickly handed him the note and he read it slowly. He handed it back and said he was going back to the room. I quickly followed, doing my job as a Guardian to take care of moroi. We went back into the room and I threw the papers on my bedside table.


	6. Chapter 6

I lay down on the bed, remembering the look on Lissa's face when I gave her the note. I felt miserable. Adrian must have noticed because he came and lay down next to me. "Are you okay?" He asked. I suddenly had an idea. It wasn't very logical but it would make me feel better. "Adrian, this is going to sound stupid, but please listen" I asked. "I will" He said. "I want you to use compulsion on me, I want you to make me, well, happy" I asked. "Rose, you know I can't do that" He whispered. "You can! You just won't" I yelled. He shook his head and mumbled something, then sat up. I sat up and he looked me in the eyes. "I want you to be happy, forget everything that is going on. Kiss me" He asked. I suddenly forgot everything, all I wanted was Adrian, his hands around me and his lips on mine.

I wrapped my arms around him and he did the same, our lips met and we kissed. It was a magical kiss, one that lasted forever. He pulled back after an eternity, and everything came back to me. It slapped me in the face. I lay down again and Adrian lay down next to me. He wrapped his arms around me and I fell asleep.

One of Adrian's dreams was beginning to materialise. Except it was taking longer, it was a bit blurry. I know I asked Adrian to visit my dreams but this was getting annoying. Finally I found myself at the Royal Court. Instead of Adrian, Lissa materialised in front of me. "Liss!" I yelled excitedly. "Rose, is it true? About my father, I mean" She asked. "Yeah, I think so. I'm so sorry Lissa." I answered. "It's okay Rose, you did it to protect me, like you always do. I'm not going to be able to hold onto this dream for much longer though" she replied. "That's okay, you'll get better" I encouraged. The dream was starting to blur, and after a few moments it was over.

I woke up with Adrian calling my name "Rose, Rose, wakey wakey" He laughed when he saw me open my eyes. I then noticed that everyone was in the room, including Dimitri. Everyone was laughing except him. I felt a grin spread across my face when I noticed one other person in the room, Abe.

"Zmey, you finally slithered in here" I laughed. "Oh, Rose. You're such a charmer" He laughed. I then noticed my bag had been packed and a tank top with jewels and some slacks lay on the end of the bed. "We have to leave, now. Get dressed and meet us in the car park, hurry." Dimitri warned me. I immediately realised what was going on. The Guardians must have found us. I jumped out of bed and everyone left, except Dimitri. He just stood there staring at me with those fierce brown eyes. "Roza," He whispered after everyone was out of the room. He walked over to me and cupped my face in his hands. I flinched at the warmth of those beautiful hands.

He leaned down and kissed me. The kiss was animal. It was fierce and wonderful at the same time. He pulled away and I wished he would keep kissing me. "Roza, you know I love you." He whispered and left the room. Oh. My. Gosh. Dimitri still loves me. It was what I'd wanted to hear since he came back. I quickly got dressed and put my hair in a ponytail. I ran down the stairs and saw everyone waiting in the car. I threw my bag in the boot and jumped in next to Adrian. I leant against him and he wrapped his arms around me.

"We're going to Las Vegas" I told everyone. "Why are we going there?" Abe asked. "Long story," I said. I knew what we had to do. We needed to find out about Lissa's father. All the bank accounts were connected to Las Vegas, so that's the first place we needed to look. I also knew what I had to do about Adrian and Dimitri, I had to leave Adrian and go back to Dimitri. I had to be with him, I couldn't stay with Adrian, so I knew what I had to do.

After a few hours of travelling we were in Vegas, the heat there was great for Dhampir's, but for moroi it really weakens them. We arrived at a motel owned by moroi, and checked in. They had feeders on hand in hidden rooms, so Lissa, Christian and Adrian went straight there. Dimitri and I took the bags up into the rooms. We only had two rooms, so Lissa and Christian were going to be in one and Dimitri, Adrian and I were going to be in the other. This was going to be fun.

Dimitri and I were waiting in the room. I was sitting on the bed and he was sitting on a velvet chair. "Dimitri, you know how you said you love me, well, I love you too. I want to be with you forever, we can work this out" I said. "Roza, I can't be with you, especially when you have Adrian. Don't break his heart" He replied. "I'm not going to. He knew this was going to happen Dimitri, I need you" I pleaded. "Don't break his heart" Dimitri whispered just as Adrian walked in the room. He gave Dimitri a menacing look, and walked over to me and sat down.

No one said anything for a while, so I slipped into Lissa's head. Too late, I'm screwed. Lissa and Christian were more or less, naked. Lissa was trying to block the happiness and excitement, but once I'm in, it's hard to get out. I had to get out, right now though. _Rose, this isn't you, get out!_

I came back to myself, my breathing heavy. Dimitri was hovering over me, ready for anything and Adrian was calling my name. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they noticed me go back to normal. "Umm... Sorry guys, I just slipped into Lissa's head and, well, it was hard to get out" I apologised.

Dimitri walked back to his chair and sat down. "Adrian, I need to talk to you. Alone" I whispered in his ear. He nodded and I got up and headed to the bathroom. He closed the door behind us and asked "What's going on?" I didn't know what I was supposed to say. Dimitri told me not to break his heart but, how difficult would it be if he were on the edge of insanity? He hadn't been self-medicating with alcohol, so that would make him unstable. I had to let him down easy.

"You know what's going on. You said it would happen, and now it is. I'm sorry Adrian, I love you, but I need Dimitri" I whispered. He wrapped his arms around me. He knew it was goodbye. "I love you too Rose, and I know you love me too. I'm going back to the Royal Court, I promise I'll visit you" He smiled. I knew what he meant. I kissed him, a goodbye kiss. It didn't last long but I know it didn't have to.

He held onto me for a few more seconds, and then released. He smiled at me, a sad smile, and left the bathroom. He picked up his bag and said goodbye just before I heard the door close. I walked out of the bathroom, a tear escaping my eye. Dimitri hopped off his chair and walked over to me. "What happened?" He asked. "I broke _my_ heart for the third time" I whispered. Dimitri walked me over to the bed and sat down beside me.

He wrapped his arms around me, just being in his embrace soothed me. He kept saying my name,_ Roza, Roza, _like a prayer. He held me like that for the rest of the day. When it got late, I got a message through the bond, _Goodnight._ After that I hopped out of Dimitri's arms and got under the covers. "Dimitri, can you do me a favour?" I asked. "Yes, I would do anything for you Roza," he whispered. "Hold me" I asked. He hopped under the covers next to me and put his arms around me. I put my face on his chest and eventually fell asleep.

When I woke up, I woke up next to Dimitri. It was the greatest feeling, knowing that the person you loved, loved you. He was awake and smiled at me when I woke up. "Rose, Abe is in the room next to us, he wants to talk to you." He whispered. I sighed, realising I'd almost forgotten he was here. I reluctantly hopped out of Dimitri's embrace, and got dressed. While I was shuffling through my bag, I saw Lissa's chotki. I put it on, and went to visit Abe. A quick check of the bond told me Lissa was still sleeping.

I knocked on the door a few times before someone finally answered. "Mom?" I whispered. "Rosemarie Hathaway! I cannot believe what you have done!" My mother yelled. She took me inside and sat me down on a leather chair. Abe was looking through some files and looked up at my arrival, he gave me a smirk, then went back to reading.

"Rose, I believe you didn't, uh, murder the Queen," She started "but breaking out of the Royal Court prison and escaping to Las Vegas! That's just unacceptable!" She yelled. "Mom, I didn't come here to escape," I yelled. "I came here to find something, or, well, someone" I pleaded. I couldn't tell her why I was here exactly, but I could give her some hints. "Who? Who is so important you escaped from the Royal Court with three moroi, or rather, two moroi." She yelled. I'd almost forgotten about Adrian, him leaving because of me made me miserable. I had to tell my mom why I was here, she would find out sooner or later. I handed her the note that I always keep with me. She finished reading it and handed it back. "Are you sure?" she asked, "Sure as hell" I grinned. "Rose, language" she growled.


	7. Chapter 7

I left the room in a horrible mood, I knew this was going to be the end. Even if I found this mysterious sibling of Lissa's, I wouldn't be free. I would be _executed._ I'd been so close to death so many times. I'd even been dead once. This time was so much worse. I was going to die. Die a horrible death.

I walked back into my room, Dimitri was reading, and he put his book down as soon as I walked in. He jumped out of the chair and walked over to me when he noticed how much my mood had changed. "What's wrong?" He asked. "I'm going to die" I whispered. "I'm going to die!" I screamed. "You are not going to die, Rose." He whispered. Then I had a thought, one that would make everything better when I died. "When I die, I want you to do something for me" I asked. "You are _not _going to die!" He yelled. "Just listen!" I yelled. He didn't say anything, so I told him "I want you to be Lissa's guardian, I want you to be shadow-kissed" I whispered. "What? You want me to die?" He asked pleadingly. "Yes, Lissa will heal you" I forced smile. "No, I can't" He replied. "What? Why? You have to, when I die, Lissa needs someone to take away the darkness!" I yelled. "You are not going to die!" He pleaded. "I am, and you're going to take care of Lissa" I whispered. "What about the ghosts, and the darkness taking over me?" He asked. "I'll teach you how to get rid of the ghosts before I die, and Lissa will heal the darkness out of you" I answered. "No, you will not die" He said more to himself than me. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me.

I forgot all about dying, and let his embrace take over me. I loved Dimitri; I needed to be with him. Forever, or, until I died. "Rose, I called my mother, she misses you, so does Viktoria" He whispered. I then remembered what I'd said to Viktoria before I left. I thought she hated me, and to hear that she missed me made me feel so much better. "I miss them too" I whispered. He held me, whispering soothing words in my ear.

I later got a message from Lissa through the bond, _Come to my room._ I looked up and Dimitri and said "I have to go, Lissa wants me. I love you" I left the room reluctantly, and knocked on Lissa's door. Christian answered and I saw Lissa sitting on the bed. I walked over to her and sat down beside her. "Rose, I visited Adrian when I found out that he'd left. You broke his heart, but I know you didn't mean to" She whispered. "I know, but, well..." She stopped me before I continued. "I know, but I didn't bring you in here to talk about that. The whole Royal Court is afraid, they sent the best guardian's after you. They know where we are, we need to get the info we came here for and leave" She warned.

I hopped off the bed, and Lissa and Christian followed. I opened the door to my room and told Dimitri what we needed to do. He told Abe and my mother what we needed to do and everyone met up in the lobby. Lissa handed Dimitri, Christian and I charmed rings. We were the ones the guardian's were looking for. We headed to the nearest bank and went inside. There was no one there, so it was safe for Lissa to use compulsion. I handed her the piece of paper with the bank account on it and when the lady behind the counter asked her if she needed anything, Lissa put on her sweet face and looked the woman in the eye. She was human, so it would be easy to use compulsion.

"I need you to tell me whose bank account this is" She asked and read out the numbers on the piece of paper. The woman's eyes glazed over and she got that goofy smile that all of Lissa's 'clients' got. She typed something into the computer and looked at Lissa. "This isn't a Las Vegas account, it's from somewhere in Siberia," she told Lissa. Dimitri flinched when the woman mentioned Siberia. "It's from a place named Baia" she continued. "There is no street address though" Lissa stopped using her compulsion and looked at me and Dimitri. It was then that my mouth had dropped open, the same with Dimitri's. "You know something that you aren't telling me" She stared at me. "Lissa, when I was looking for Dimitri, that's where I went. That's where I found the spirit user and her shadow-kissed husband. Mark and Oksana." I whispered.

We walked out in silence, until I saw them. The guardian's had found us. A few of them looked at me and had to take a second look to realise it was me. The ring mustn't have been strong enough because as soon as they noticed who it was, they came running at us. "Run!" I yelled. We ran as fast as we could, but the sunlight was taking a toll on Lissa and Christian. We ran down an alleyway and the guardian's followed. There was nobody in sight, except the guardian's chasing us. If they caught up, they would do anything to get us, if there were people around they wouldn't be able to get us without making a scene.

I could hear Lissa and Christian puffing, it was getting so much harder for them to keep going, but all the running laps when Dimitri had been my mentor had helped me to do things like this. All of a sudden, Christian stopped. The guardian's were getting closer and closer, until a wall of fire stopped them. It was huge, I didn't know Christian had so much power in him. Except, this wasn't Christian, it was someone else. A moroi, not one I'd ever met before. I then realised that Christian was doing some of it because he fell to the ground, and some of the fire disappeared.

Dimitri picked Christian up and started running again. I followed with Lissa, I held onto her hand tight to make sure she didn't stop. The moroi kept the wall of fire up without even breaking a sweat when we ran past him. He was probably my age, but it was hard to tell with their slim frames. We kept running until we got out of the alleyway. Amazingly, there was one taxi parked on the side of the street. We ran over to it and opened the doors. Lissa, Christian and I jumped in the back and put on our seatbelts. Dimitri hopped in the front and asked to go to the airport. The taxi driver started to argue that we should take Christian to the hospital, but stopped when Lissa looked at him. He put his foot on the gas and started driving.

We got to the airport about 15 minutes after leaving. Christian was feeling a bit better, but Dimitri still had to carry him. I lead us to a family change room, which I locked as soon as we got in. Dimitri placed Christian on the seat and Lissa walked over to him. She reached out to him and I felt the magic building up in her. It was a wonderful feeling, everything was happy for a few moments and Christian smiled. He looked better but I could tell Lissa was getting tired.

We headed over to the counter, where we got one way tickets to Siberia. Our plane was just about to leave by the time we reached the terminal. We had no luggage, so we got on the plane pretty quickly. The flight was going to take about a day, so once we were on; I bought some food and drinks while we were waiting. About four hours into the flight, I could tell that Lissa needed blood, she'd been using a lot of magic and it was taking a lot out of her. I stood up and told her to follow. I took her into one of the toilets, the flight attendant gave us some weird looks but I ignored her.

I locked the door and tilted my neck, it took her a few moments to process, but she understood. She reached over and sank her teeth in. I let out a quiet whimper and then let the endorphins take over. She pulled away after a few moments and wiped her mouth. She got some paper towel and cleaned up some of the blood. I let my hair down and covered up the bite. She held me up as we went back to our seats and sat me down. I sat next to Dimitri and Christian and Lissa sat across from me. Christian realised what we'd done and grinned. "Aren't you gonna share, Rose" He laughed. I gave him my best glare, but it didn't change the look on his face. I felt weak from the blood loss, and Lissa realised when she looked at me. She passed me one of the Mars Bars I'd bought and told me to eat it. I didn't feel much like eating but I did it for Lissa. After a few more hours, I fell asleep on Dimitri's shoulder.

I woke up just before we were about to land; realising Dimitri had put his duster over me. I had a sense of déjà vu from when I woke up the same way after a shopping trip with Victor, before he kidnapped Lissa. I noticed that Lissa and Christian were looking at Dimitri, I guessed they must have been having a conversation before I woke up, because once they saw me, they looked away. I realised they were talking about Baia, and why that's where I went to find Dimitri. I knew because Lissa wasn't great at keeping things hidden from me.

Once we'd landed, we left the airport and went shopping. I wasn't quite sure where we were but Dimitri seemed to know where everything was. I bought all of our new clothes with the credit card that Adrian had given me. I didn't want to waste his money; I just wanted him to know where I was. I bought myself a few tank tops and some different pairs of slacks. Lissa chose out some sweaters for me, so I bought them too. It wasn't freezing where we were, but it was a bit cold.

Once we'd done all our shopping, we hired a car and headed off on our road-trip to Baia. I couldn't stop thinking about the moroi that had helped us escape from the guardian's. Dimitri was driving, and he handed me his phone. "Ring them, we'll need somewhere to stay" He told me without taking his eyes off the road. I opened up the phone and went into the phonebook. The number was under the name 'Family'. I pressed call, and put the phone up to my ear. I didn't know what I was going to say, but when Viktoria answered, my heart sank.

"Hello, who's there? Hello?" She asked

"Viktoria, is that you?" I asked

"Yeah, is that you Rose?" She asked excitedly.

"Yes it is" I answered

"Oh. My. God!" she screamed.

"I need to talk to your mom" I told her.

"I'll put her on straight away. Are you nearby?" She asked

"Yup, closer than you think" I answered

"Okay! Here she is" she yelled

"Hello, Rose, is this really you? You left so unexpectedly" She started.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I need a favour" I asked

"Of course, anything for my son's love" She answered. When I'd visited, I told everyone about Dimitri being 'dead' and they'd all figured out that I'd loved Dimitri.

"I, uh, we need somewhere to stay. Not just Dimitri and I, Liss... Vasilisa Dragomir and Christian Ozera are with us" I asked.

"Rose, if you're being followed, I don't want to get involved, and yes, I know you're innocent but I can't let you stay unless, you know you're safe." Olena answered.

"Trust me, we lost the guardians a long time ago" I told her.

"Okay, I'll organise somewhere for you to stay. When will you get here?" She asked.

"In a few hours, I have to go though, we'll have no signal soon, I miss you" I said

"I miss you too Rose" And with that, I hung up.


	8. Chapter 8

When we arrived in Baia, Dimitri went straight to Olena's house. We hopped out of the car and got our new bags. I was first to the door, I wanted to apologise to Viktoria. I knocked on the door and Sonya answered. She saw Dimitri and a big grin lit up her face. Viktoria came running down the stairs and hugged me. She released me and called out "Dimka!" She ran over to him and hugged him too. Sonya came out and helped us with our bags. I didn't let her take mine because I didn't want her to hurt herself. Her baby bump had gotten bigger, much bigger. Olena came out of the kitchen and greeted us all with a hug. She showed us to where we'd be staying. Dimitri and I were going to stay in Viktoria's room and Christian and Lissa would be staying in Carolina's room. Carolina and Viktoria would be sleeping in Sonya's room.

After I placed my bags in the room, Viktoria came in and smiled. "I'm sorry for yelling at you Rose, you were right, he didn't really want me for any other reason" She started. "No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stopped you, you were in love and I know what its like." I told her. She came over and hugged me. "I forgive you Rose" She said. "I forgive you too" I said. She left the room as Dimitri came in. He'd been in the kitchen talking to Olena, Carolina, Sonya and Paul. He smiled and put his bag down. "My grandma missed you" He laughed. I didn't have any comments for that, so I snarled. I headed out of the room and down stairs.

I headed into the kitchen and found Lissa and Christian. Olena was talking to them so I decided to ask Lissa what she wanted me to ask her. "Liss, do you want to go meet them now?" I asked. She knew what I was talking about right away and a big grin lit up her face. Christian continued talking as we waved goodbye. I still knew the way to Mark and Oksana's house, who can forget the home of someone who helped save your best friends life.

The walk there seemed a lot shorter than when I'd gone with Yeva, Dimitri's grandmother. I guess that was because the first time I'd gone there I was carrying bricks, literally. When we reached the house Lissa gave me a look of excitement, I checked the bond, and she could feel Oksana's presence. I knocked on the door and Mark answered. "Rose, I didn't think I'd see you again, especially when you're in as much trouble as I've heard. I believe it wasn't you though" He greeted me. "Um, Mark, this is Vasilisa Dragomir" I began. He looked behind me and a grin lit up his face. "Your bondmate" he guessed. I nodded and he gestured us in. Oksana came out of the kitchen and the biggest smile I'd ever seen lit her face. Lissa flinched, but it wasn't because of Oksana's presence, it was because Oksana had reached into her head.

"Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, how nice to meet you, I'm sorry about what I just did, but I needed to make sure you were who I thought you were" She greeted her. She nodded at me and looked back at Lissa. "Do you mind telling me what you just did?" Lissa asked politely. "Oh, can't you do it, I reached into your head, like what Rose can do" She answered. I felt a light switch on in my head. Oksana can see into my past and thoughts by reaching into my head, which means she can see that I'm innocent. The only problem is, how can she get people to believe her if they can't see.

Oksana gestured us into the dining room, where I'd first spoken to her. We sat down at the table, and I felt the sensation of hot and cold and then hot again. "Sorry Rose, I had to see if you were really innocent. You are, I did believe you were, but I needed to see for sure" She told me. "So, how are you Princess, I mean, is the darkness getting to you still" Mark asked. "No, not really. I feel it and then it's gone. Rose is taking it away from me though, and I am making her spirit infused jewellery and stuff" She answered. "How are you feeling, Rose?" Oksana asked. "I'm okay as long as Lissa is" I answered quickly. I actually didn't like having to take away the darkness, but I'd do it to protect her. Oksana reached into her pocket and got out a silver ring. "I've put a bit of spirit in this, Vasilisa can put more in to make it stronger though" Oksana said as she slid the ring over to me. Lissa reached out and touched it, I felt a little of the happiness coming through the bond, but she couldn't infuse the ring with a lot of power.

Oksana smiled and said to Lissa "You are very strong, I can see the spirit coming off of the ring now, you've made it very strong." Lissa looked at me and smiled. She passed the ring back to me and looked at Mark. "Do you need anything, I mean, are you okay" She asked him. "No, I'm fine, Oksana makes me a ring every now and again, and I don't need them that much, she doesn't use her powers that much" Mark replied. We sat in silence for a moment, and then Lissa asked "Can you dream walk?" Oksana looked confused, and Lissa took that for a no. "My friend, Adrian Ivashkov, he has spirit and he taught me how to do it" She explained. Oksana looked excited, and asked "Is he here, we can share our powers" She asked. "No, he, uh, left" She looked at me and looked apologetic. "I should have known, when I reached into Rose's head I got a sense of guilt about a boy, that was him, wasn't it?" She asked me. I looked away and didn't say anything. I stood up and headed outside, to Mark's garden, and he followed. Lissa stayed with Oksana and asked about what she could do.

I sat down on the ground and Mark sat down next to me. "How are you doing, are you still seeing ghosts?" He asked. "No, I learnt how to keep them away, except, when I got out of the Royal Court, I saw her, Queen Tatiana. Then I blacked out. That's never happened" I told him. He looked almost scared. "Don't do it again" He said fiercely. "Why?" I asked. "Just don't do it, you are getting closer, closer to the world of the dead" He whispered. I gave him a look of astonishment and then realised something. I am only supposed to see spirits of people who recently passed, but I saw Lissa's parents. They died almost three years ago.

I realised Lissa was finished asking questions and I got up and headed back inside, Mark followed. Lissa smiled at my entrance and I realised Oksana had been telling her how to reach into people's heads. She needed to practice before she could do it but she knew what she had to do.

Oksana and Mark said their goodbyes as we left and we headed back to Olena's house. Then we saw him, the fire user. He must have followed us. He stopped walking when he saw us. I walked over to him to ask why he was stalking us but he began to talk before I opened my mouth. "I'm not following you, you're following me." He said. I then saw it, the jade-green eyes like Lissa's. My mouth dropped open and I said "I know."

Lissa had no clue why I said that, and then thought that they might have been using compulsion until I spoke again. "How did you know we were looking for you?" I asked. Lissa was still confused, and then it clicked in her head. I felt a rush of emotions go through her, regret, anger, sadness. "I heard about you, how you're being blamed for the murder of the Queen. I knew it wasn't you, so I studied up and realised, Vasilisa could only vote if I were here." He answered. "Why would you help me like that, you don't even know me" Lissa screamed. "Liss, calm down" I soothed her. "My name is Alex, Alex Kerosov. My mother's name is Lainee." He said.

We got back to the house and I called for Dimitri. He came down the stairs immediately and alert. "Dimitri, this is Alex. Alex is, well, Lissa's brother, sort of" I told him. He looked at Alex, then Lissa, then back at me. "He's the one who helped us back in Las Vegas" Dimitri told me. "Yep, that's me" He smiled. He was just like Christian. An idiot. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't do anything wrong" He said. Dimitri then asked "Why are you here?" Alex answered dryly "My mom made me move here with her, she thought she was being followed." Lissa suddenly had a thought. Alex's mother could be a spirit user. She had the same paranoia as Ms. Karp.

"When did you move here?" I asked. "A few months ago, when we heard about how Vasilisa Dragomir's Guardian ran away." He answered. I growled at him and realised we needed a plan. If we were going to go back to the Royal Court to prove I was innocent, we needed to be able to prove that Lissa was related to Alex. I pushed Alex up the stairs to where I found Christian. He looked at Alex, then at me. "Isn't this who helped us?" Christian asked. "Yup, you and him are gonna share stories and all that while us adults work out something" I grinned. "Oh Rose, why don't you join us, we could play with barbie dolls if you want to" Christian laughed. I glared at him and pushed Alex into the room. "Don't burn the house down" I called as I walked down the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Lissa was explaining to Dimitri who Alex was and stopped when she saw me. "What are we going to do?" She asked. "We need proof he is related to you, we need a DNA test" I said. "They take weeks though Rose" She told me. "Well we'll just have to wait, won't we" I said as I held up a piece of Alex's hair I'd pulled when I was pushing him up the stairs. Lissa smiled and plucked a piece of her own platinum blonde hair. Dimitri went into the kitchen and brought out a plastic zip lock bag and an envelope. Lissa and I put the hair in the plastic zip lock bag and put it in the envelope. Dimitri found out where the closest DNA testing lab was and we sent the envelope to that address.

All we had to do was wait. I hate waiting. Lissa and Dimitri followed me up the stairs, and when I got to Christian's room, I found him and Alex talking about using their powers to help fight with Guardians. "Christian," Lissa glared, "has he told you who he is?" Christian looked confused, so I told him. "This is who we've been looking for, it's Lissa's, um, half-brother sort of thing" I couldn't find the exact words, so I just did what I did best and made something up. Christian looked surprised. Lissa walked in and sat beside him and began joining in the conversation like nothing had happened.

Dimitri and I went to where we were staying, and he closed the door behind us. He walked towards me and pinned me up against the wall, his movements graceful as he did it. His lips moved along mine, barely touching, then kissed me. It was like the time when he was training me, he'd done the same thing, except, this one was soft and sweet. We kissed forever until he pulled back. He let me go and took a step back just as Viktoria walked in. "Oh, um, I'm sorry. I should have knocked. I, uh, just need to get some stuff" She said awkwardly. She ran over to her dresser and pulled out a few things, then ran out closing the door behind her. I quickly slipped into Lissa's head, and I was looking at Viktoria. She had a huge grin on her face. I immediately got out, sensing Dimitri moving closer.

There was suddenly a knock on the door, and Dimitri moved away. Olena opened the door and said dinner was ready. We walked down the stairs holding hands. His hands were so warm on my skin, and I felt electricity every time he touched me. The moment of happiness disappeared when I saw Yeva sitting at the table. She looked so frail, but I know for sure, looks are deceiving. She forced a smile at me, and I did the same.

I sat down beside Dimitri, who was in an intense conversation with Yeva. They were speaking in Russian, so I didn't understand a word they were saying. Paul sat the other side of me with Viktoria beside him. Sonya, Carolina, Olena, Christian and Lissa sat on the other side of the table. Alex had left not long ago, and I kept thinking how we could do this. I knew we'd have to turn ourselves in sooner or later, but I knew I'd be executed if I couldn't prove myself innocent.

After dinner I helped with the dishes and then went back to the room with Dimitri. I threw on a tank top and some grey slacks, then slid under the covers. Dimitri took off his shirt and that wonderful body was still the same as I remembered. He slid in next to me and I snuggled up in his chest. He whispered goodnight and then I drifted off to sleep.

One of Adrian's dreams began to materialise, and this time I knew it was him. We were in a garden; I hadn't been here before though. I was wearing what I had worn to bed, but with a few changes. I was wearing the chotki and my nazar, like always. Adrian came into view and I ran over and hugged him. I'd caught him by surprise, because he nearly fell over when I put my arms around him. I'd never been so happy to see him, but I needed to talk to him, about who we found.

"Little Dhampir, I miss you" He smiled. "I miss you too" I said. "You need to come here; I know a spirit user and her shadow-kissed husband. I also found Lissa's step brother guy!" I told him excitedly. "Slow down Rose, where exactly are you?" He asked, "Baia, in Siberia" I told him. He gave me a look of disapproval then gave in, "Fine, but I have to get out of this place first, and it's chaotic. They've sent the best guardians after you, but they've found some evidence that could help you win the case." He explained. "What, what evidence?" I asked. "They found fingerprints on the door handle, and some type of material, latex or something, on the stake. They think someone framed you, but they want more evidence to prove it" He explained. "Well, it's obvious I was framed, but who's fingerprints were they?" I asked. He hesitated then looked at me apologetically. "Robert Doru, they were Robert Doru's" My jaw dropped.

Victor was out to get me, and he sent his spirit user step-brother out to get me killed. That must be why nobody saw who did it, he must have used compulsion on the guardians. I had as much proof as I could get, and I couldn't wait to tell... I couldn't tell Dimitri that we'd broken Victor Dashkov out of a high security prison. How was I going to explain how we knew Robert Doru. I had to tell him the truth, but I didn't want to risk everything. I could trust Dimitri, couldn't I. The answer is yes, I'm going to tell him.

"Adrian, Victor framed me" I whispered. "I know, some think Victor was the one to actually do it, but nobody's seen him" He told me. "Adrian, I have to go, I have to tell everyone, please let me go" I whispered. "I'd do anything for you, Rose" He said as the dream started to disappear.

I woke up, ready and alert. Dimitri was still awake beside me and he sat up as soon as I did, "Dimitri, it was Victor and his step-brother, they framed me." I whispered. Dimitri looked confused and then pieced it together. "It was you, wasn't it?" He asked. I nodded and felt tears in my eyes. He pulled me closer and I rested my face on his neck. I started sobbing, I didn't want to be killed, and I didn't plan to be framed by Victor and his step-brother. Why wasn't my life normal?

Ever since I was bought back to the school, bad things have happened. First of all, my best friend was kidnapped, then I went to a massacre and got kidnapped by humans working for strigoi. I then killed two strigoi and lost my best friend, yet, that isn't enough. I start seeing ghosts and see my best friend use super compulsion, I then take all the darkness out of her a nearly kill a moroi. Strigoi later attack the school and take away moroi and dhampirs, we go on a rescue mission and the person I love gets turned into a strigoi. I go after him and nearly get turned myself, then I put a stake into his heart, which falls out. My best friend gets kidnapped by my lover-strigoi, we go on another rescue mission and my best friend changes him back with a spirit infused stake. Then I get framed for the Queen's murder when it was actually the moroi I'd freed from a high security prison that killed her. My life sucks.

"Roza, it's going to be all right, we're going to get you out of this" He whispered. I then had an idea, I needed to find out the truth. I jumped out of bed and Dimitri got out too. I let down my mental wall, and she was there. "Rose, what are you doing... Oh my God, Rose, am I seeing things?" He trailed off. "Rose, why is the Queen in here?" He was getting hysterical now. I put the wall up as soon as he said that and I looked at him. "You, you can see her can't you" I said. "Rose, what's going on?" He asked. "You were on the edge of death when you were a strigoi, you can see them when I bring them" I said more than myself than to him. He looked at me pleadingly. "Dimitri, don't worry, they can't, _won't_ hurt you. I am going to bring her back, I need to know the truth" I said.

I dropped my mental wall and Dimitri looked exactly where she was standing, he could see her as well. "Who killed you?" I asked. "Did Victor kill you?" I asked. She shook her head. "Was Victor there?" I asked. She nodded. "Was he with someone?" I asked and she nodded. "Was he with Robert Doru?" I asked, hoping she knew who he was. She nodded and I immediately put my mental wall back up. "Robert Doru is Victor's step-brother, isn't he?" Dimitri guessed, "Yeah" I replied just as there was a knock on the door. Viktoria opened it and stuck her head in. She looked confused when she saw us standing next to each other looking at her.

She walked in and stood in front of us. I still had tears on my face and she came and hugged me. "I thought I heard you crying, it's going to be okay" Viktoria assured me. I smiled at her and hugged her back. Dimitri still seemed astonished that he'd been able to see the ghosts. He looked over at us and smiled. Viktoria took a step back and said "Um, I need sleep, so could you guys be a little quieter" She asked. I smiled and nodded, then she left the room closing the door quietly. I looked at Dimitri and smiled. "Adrian was the one who told me, I asked him to come here" I told him. "He's coming to see Oksana and Mark, him and Lissa are going to learn about spirit a bit more" I hastily added. He went back to bed and I followed, sliding in next to him. I rested my head on his chest, and he ran his fingers through my hair. "Don't do that again Rose" He whispered. "I won't, I promise" I whispered. I could hear his heart beating, and I fell asleep after a few minutes.

I slept the whole night without an interruption from one of Adrian's dreams, but I did end up waking up to what I thought was one. My eyes fluttered open and I could hear running water. I looked around the room, bleary eyed, and noticed someone standing in the doorway. At first I thought it was Dimitri, but when I rubbed my eyes a few times, I noticed Adrian standing there.

"I called Dimitri," He grumbled when he said Dimitri's name. "He told me where to find you." He smiled when he noticed I was only wearing a skimpy tank top and tight sweat pants. I realised that I'd already pushed the covers away and was walking towards him. I wrapped my arms round him. I couldn't believe how much I'd missed him.

"Whoa, slow down there, you might upset your man" He joked. I dropped my arms by my side and smiled. "Rose, I'd like to meet everyone, if you don't mind" He told me. "Of course I don't mind. Who first?" I asked. "Your friends, y'know the shadow-kissed one and his wife, the spirit user." He laughed. "Okay, I'll get dressed and you can get Lissa" I said. "Why can't I help you get dressed and we can go get Lissa after" He pleaded. I laughed and said "You only wish, go get her" He whimpered and walked out of the room.

I met Adrian and Lissa in the kitchen, Dimitri was helping with the dishes and smiled at my arrival. "Good morning sleepy head" He smiled, drying off his hands. He handed me something wrapped in foil and said "I heard you guys were going somewhere, eat this" He walked over to me and kissed my forehead.

Adrian, Lissa and I walked to Oksana and Mark's house. On the way there, I unwrapped a glazed donut. My favourite, I giggled. Lissa and Adrian gave me confused looks, then shrugged. When we arrived Adrian knocked on the door. Oksana was the one to answer.

"I thought I could sense someone, I just thought it was the Princess. Welcome, Lord Ivashkov" Oksana welcomed us and led us into the kitchen. Adrian and Lissa sat with Oksana, then I heard some noise out back. I thought it was Mark, and because he was nowhere in sight, I knew it was him. I heard some banging and crashing, then I got the feeling.

Nausea rolled through me making me shudder, just the thought of a strigoi being out there made me feel worse. "Everybody, hide" I whispered. Lissa knew straight away that I must have felt something, because she stood up and whispered something in Oksana's ear. Oksana nodded and led them toward what must have been the living room. It was at that moment I realised I didn't have a stake. I'd learnt to make do with whatever weapons necessary, so I ran over to a draw, and opened it. Luckily it had all the cutlery, so I grabbed the biggest knife and quietly walked over to the back door.

As I opened the door, I heard some grunting, and the nausea grew stronger. Mark was over near a tool shed fighting off two strigoi. They were stronger than him, but his guardian training had given him great reflexes. One of the strigoi lunged at him, and Mark quickly dodged, a little clumsily. He picked up a shovel and started hitting one of the strigoi with it, but the other one was coming up behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

That's when I came in. I moved so quietly that the strigoi never saw me coming. I stabbed him in the heart several times, I knew it wouldn't kill him, but it would be very painful. He turned around, and tried to grab me, I was too fast for him and I got another shot at him, this time, his neck. I slid the knives blade along his neck. The strigoi must have been in agony but he kept fighting. I was on the defensive, keeping an eye on Mark. He'd finally knocked his strigoi out and ran over to his garden shed, fumbling for the keys when he finally unlocked it. I couldn't see inside but when he came out, he was holding two silver stakes. He dropped one and came up behind my strigoi and stabbed him in the heart. The strigoi screamed, then fell to the ground. Mark removed the stake and walked over to the other one, which he also staked.

I still had the nausea running through me, but not as bad. I looked around to see if there were any others but I couldn't see any. "Don't worry Rose, there aren't any here. They are close by though, I can sense them too" Mark whispered. I picked up the extra stake and we walked inside quietly, but the nausea didn't grow. Oksana ducked her head around the corner and asked "Is it okay to come out now?" Mark and I nodded. Oksana was holding Lissa's hand, and Adrian walked behind them. "We need to go back, now" I whispered. They both nodded and followed me out the door. The nausea grew, but I couldn't see any strigoi.

We heard some grunts and Lissa jumped, she was holding my hand now. Adrian stayed close behind and I whispered to them "Run." We all started running, not seeing any strigoi until we reached the house. My nausea grew. It was just like how I'd felt when the strigoi had attacked our school. I screamed out to Dimitri and got my stake at the ready. Lissa and Adrian ran inside, not needing me to tell them what to do. Just as they ran in, Dimitri ran out.

Out of nowhere, at least ten strigoi came at us. Dimitri didn't have a stake, so every strigoi he took down, I staked. It was all a blur until we were down to the last two. It was a woman and a male. They both looked strong, and they reminded me of Elena and Isaiah.

The woman came at me and the man went for Dimitri. She got a kick at my stomach that really hurt, and while I was gaining my balance she took a shot at my face. I fell backwards but quickly got my balance before hitting the ground. This was going to be a long battle. She tried to get in another kick, and I dodged, landing a blow on her right shoulder. She fumbled backwards and that was my shot. Just as I took it I peeked at Dimitri to see how he was going. I shouldn't of, because what I saw made me falter, missing the strigoi's heart and putting her in horrible pain instead of killing her. I quickly removed the stake and stabbed her in the heart.

Once she'd fallen to the ground, I ripped out the stake and ran up behind the male strigoi and had a clear shot of his heart. I jammed the stake through it and watched him fall to the ground. This time, I had no feeling of nausea, so I pushed the strigoi out of my way and ran to Dimitri. He was lying on the ground, staring straight up. I fell to the ground next to him and started screaming out for Lissa. I was sobbing, tears streaked my face. When I took a look at Dimitri, it was just like the Badica attack. There was blood everywhere, and Dimitri's neck looked like it had been ripped out. Lissa and Adrian both ran out of the house, both putting their arm around me to stop my hysterics.

"Lissa, heal him" I whispered. She shook her head. "I can't Rose, I'm too weak" She said softly. "Lissa," I screamed "heal him! Do it now!" I couldn't bear it. The person I love was lying on the floor dead, and my best friend wouldn't even help him. I looked at her pleadingly and she reached out and placed her hand on his chest. I felt the magic build up in her, and then the blood went away and his neck healed up. The only problem was, he still wasn't moving or breathing. Lissa pulled back and fell to the ground. Then the weirdest thing happened. "I'll do it" Adrian whispered. I gave him a confused look, and then watched him reach out. Lissa was sitting up by now, but she was still weak. She was staring intently at Adrian, eyes wide with amazement. He was concentrating so hard on what he was doing, there was even sweat forming on his forehead.

I couldn't feel the magic forming in him, but I knew from experience that he would have felt a lot of happiness. Once Dimitri began breathing, Adrian pulled his hand back and similar to Lissa, fell to the ground. He had passed out from having to use so much magic, and Lissa was smiling. She walked over to Adrian and used what she had left in her to get him strong enough to walk inside. There were plenty of people willing to give blood, so Lissa sought out a few people that could make donations from the nearest club. The minutes went by, seeming like hours. Every hour felt like a day. Dimitri was sleeping, regaining s much life as he could. I sat in the living room, staring blankly out the window. Everything had happened so suddenly, I didn't even notice when people would come and sit next to me and reassure me everything was going to be okay.

It was only when Adrian came and sat beside me that I noticed. "Rose," he whispered. "I did this for you, because I love you." He gave me a small smile and I rested my head on his shoulder, allowing him to put his arms around me. I started crying then and Adrian kept rubbing my back and telling me to be quiet. Soon enough, the exhaustion set in, allowing me to fall asleep in familiar arms. They weren't exactly the arms I wanted to be in, but it was good enough for me.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up alone, it was night time for humans, which was the schedule we were on currently. I got up and heard my stomach rumble. I headed into the pitch black kitchen when I heard someone shuffle. Even without my super dhampir sight I would have known who it was. "Dimitri, are you, uh, alright?" I asked. He shuffled uncomfortably and then looked me in the eyes. "Roza... I'm so sorry" He whispered. I knew why he was sorry; someone must have told him about my crying. He always blames himself for these things.

"Dimitri, it wasn't your fault, that strigoi was strong" I whispered. I walked towards where he was sitting in a dining chair. When he didn't say anything, I sat on his lap, letting him wrap his arms around me just as I had with Adrian. Adrian, he was bound to Adrian. This could help us work things out when I got proven innocent. He could guard Adrian, and we could spend our time off together so long as Adrian stays at the royal court.

"Rose, I can tell Adrian is awake. His thoughts are really bugging me" He whispered and I giggled a little. I turned my head a little and noticed he was smiling. "I love you Dimitri" I whispered. "I love you too, Roza" He kissed my forehead. I hopped off his lap and walked over to the fridge grabbing the first thing I saw. Strawberry yoghurt. I opened a draw and grabbed out a spoon and began eating.

I realised that the bond between Dimitri and Adrian had grown a lot quicker than mine and Lissa's. I then remembered something, Lissa and I are best friends and our bond took longer to form, Adrian hates Dimitri but there bond formed in less than a day. "Dimitri," I said between spoon full's of yoghurt, "Your bond is forming quicker than mine and Lissa's did, so you're probably going to be taking away the darkness soon. You will also begin to see... ghosts" I told him. He smiled, and I wondered what was so funny. "Hey, why are you smiling?" I questioned him. "I found it funny that I was once your teacher, now you're going to be mine" He laughed. I hoped he meant I'd be his in more than one way and giggled myself.

Once I'd finished my yoghurt and threw it in the bin, I headed upstairs with Dimitri. We quietly entered the room and slipped into bed. I snuggled up to Dimitri, and felt warm almost straight way. I fell asleep after a while of thinking. How was I going to get proof that it was Victor? What if I wasn't proven innocent? What if the guardians found us before we could get proof? I didn't know what we were going to do, but I knew it would involve a lot of willpower, and I mean that in two ways. We needed to use compulsion. I had an idea, one that could get us a step ahead. We needed to find where Robert lived, and I had an idea.

I woke up, alert and ready for anything. Today was going to be a big day. Dimitri was already downstairs, so I quickly got changed and headed downstairs to talk to Lissa, Adrian, Christian and Dimitri. I knew where we needed to go. "Good morning" Lissa smiled when I walked into the kitchen.

"Everyone, pack your bags, we're going back to Vegas" I said sternly. They all looked at me, confusion all over their features, but they knew me well enough to trust my words. They all headed upstairs, except for Dimitri. "Rose, why Vegas?" He asked. I remembered when we were their earlier in the week, and recalled the way he was always agitated and on edge. Then I remembered that was where he'd attacked me and Eddie. Eddie would have killed him there if I hadn't of got in his way. I quickly cleared those thoughts out of my head, and spoke again. "We need to go to Red Rock Canyon, it's where Robert lives. I remember when we were talking to them, Robert told Victor he would hide him there if Victor wanted" I told him. He nodded and got up, handing me a yoghurt.

I quickly ate it and headed upstairs to get my bag. This time I was going to stay long enough to say goodbye to everyone. Everyone except Viktoria. Viktoria had already left for school, and Sonya, Olena, Paul and Karolina's baby, Zoya were the only ones here. I grabbed my bags once they were packed and headed downstairs with Dimitri, to find everyone waiting patiently. We all said our goodbye's and left. We caught a taxi to a motel about an hour away, and then we caught a different taxi to St. Petersburg. It reminded me of when I'd first came here looking for Dimitri.

When we got to the airport, Adrian bought the tickets. We had a one-way flight to Las Vegas, and once we'd all boarded, we relaxed a little. "So, why are we going to Las Vegas?" Lissa asked. "Remember when we came here to talk to Robert," She flinched at his name, but I continued anyway, "Victor said he lived out near Red Rock Canyon" Everyone nodded, except Christian who didn't know much about this. Lissa understood straight away, except I hadn't explained my reason. "Um, Liss, I, uh, spoke to the Queen. Victor killed her, he was with Robert" Nobody looked amazed that he was the one who did it.

I was sitting in between Dimitri and Adrian, while Lissa and Christian were sitting across from us. How weird, I was stuck between both of my men. The airport at St. Petersburg was actually surrounded by wards, it was kind of different because the airport wasn't normally a main attraction for Dhampirs. We'd been waiting in the terminal for about an hour before they let us board, and we'd been waiting about forty-five minutes for the plane to take off. Everyone sighed a sigh of relief when an announcement came over telling us we were about to take off.

Once we were in the air, I noticed Dimitri begin to squint in pain. He put his fingertips on his temples and started to rub them, just as I did when I started seeing ghosts. "Rose," He whispered. I was getting worried. It took me so long to be able to block them away, and for Dimitri, it was going to be hard. "Just focus on good things, put the, uh, whoever is there in the back of your mind." I whispered gently. I noticed him feel a little better, but the higher we got the worse it would get.

"Liss, do you have any more charms" I asked. She shook her head, so I pulled off the ring Oksana had helped Lissa charmed and handed it to Dimitri. He put it on and removed his hand from his head. "It still hurts, and there are shadows every now and again, but it feels a lot better" Dimitri whispered. "Go to sleep, it helps" I told him. He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes.

Just as the plane landed, Dimitri woke up. You could tell he was still in pain because when we got up to get off the plane, he kept putting his hand up to his head. "Liss, when we find a motel I want you to start making a charm that will get rid of the ghosts temporarily." I whispered. She nodded, and gave Dimitri a polite smile. Once we got our luggage, we headed off in a taxi to go to a motel that we'd once stayed at. The Luxor. It bought back bad memories, but it was going to have to do.

Once again, Adrian spent his money to get us our rooms. We were in two rooms, right next to one another. Dimitri, Adrian and I were in one room, and Lissa and Christian were in the other. There were two queen sized beds in our room and one in Lissa's. We all put our bags away and met in my room to work out a plan.

"So, as you know we need to get Victor and Robert, who are both pretty good at compulsion," I started. Everyone nodded, except for Christian who was still a bit behind on our crazy scheme. "We need to first of all, map out where Robert lives. All we know is that he lives in some sort of cabin out near Red Rock Canyon." I told them. "Liss, can you and Christian find some phonebooks for out there, Adrian, can you find some street directories or something." I said. "Yes ma'am" Adrian saluted. Normally I would have found that funny but right now things were serious. "Dimitri and I are going to drive out there and have a look around." I finished. Lissa, Christian and Adrian all headed out the door, with Dimitri and I following. Dimitri and I headed to the elevator and waited for it. Once it got to our level, an unexpected visitor was waiting inside.


	12. Chapter 12

"Why are you still stalking us?" I asked. "Well, um, sorry. I, uh, thought I could help you find this Robert guy" Alex stuttered nervously. "So, you've been eavesdropping too, huh?" I laughed. I was sort of starting to like this kid. He reminded me of Christian, but also, a bit of myself. He looked at the floor nervously, not wanting to answer. "Don't worry, you can help us. You're a good fighter which will help if anything bad happens" I told him. He put his head up and looked me in the eyes with a mischievous smile. Dimitri and I walked into the elevator and stood either side of him.

When we reached the ground level, we walked towards the front doors and worked out a plan. I borrowed Dimitri's phone to text Lissa and get her to 'tell me' when she found something out. She knew what I meant by 'tell me' because just after I sent the message, she said something through the bond. _Okay, good luck._ I smiled and we headed out to the car park where we all jumped in the car.

It was quiet on the way out to Red Rock Canyon. I didn't hear anything from Lissa until we reached a service station. Dimitri went to fill up the car, so Alex and I headed in to find some street directories and have a look at the information centre. Red Rock Canyon was everything you'd expect. Red. Rock. Canyon. It was like, a ghost town compared to places like Missoula and Philadelphia. I wouldn't have expected any more coming from Robert, him being a crazy spirit user and all.

Once we found a street directory, we headed back to the car. Dimitri had just finished filling it up and was heading inside to pay. Alex and I both sat in the back to have a look at the map. There wasn't much info on it, but a few moments later, I got a message through the bond. _There is a back road about 4 miles out of Red Rock Canyon, I've still got the GPS we bought a while ago so when you get back we can make a plan._ I put the map down when Dimitri got to the car.

I told him what Lissa had said to me, and Alex hadn't quite caught up. On the way back to Vegas, I explained the bond to Alex and how Lissa is a spirit user. He didn't believe it at first, but when I told him about Dimitri, he asked, and Dimitri told him it was true. He was rendered speechless for the rest of the trip back to Vegas, and when we got back, Lissa, Adrian and Christian were waiting in our room.

We organised our tactics, we all knew that once they heard us enter, if they were there, they would be out of the house in seconds. We decided that the moroi should enter first, Alex could be waiting somewhere to stop them from leaving with a fire wall. If Adrian and Lissa got in soon enough, they could use compulsion on Victor, both of them because Victor was good at compulsion himself, which would make him stronger at blocking the compulsion out. Dimitri and I would go after Robert, with charms that Lissa will make to stop him from using compulsion on us.

Once we were finished organising, Lissa started charming rings. We weren't going to leave until Lissa was up to full strength though, and Adrian would be learning to charm objects. If we could get them both to use their powers on the charms, they would be much stronger, but Adrian was still learning and wasn't very good. I remembered when Lissa had made me a charm and it had singed my wrist.

I was worried about the long term effects of making Lissa use so much spirit. I remember the way Ms. Karp used to act, and shivered at the thought. I can't let that happen to Lissa, though. I know she will never turn strigoi, but I need to make sure she won't go crazy.

Alex and Christian decided to stay in our room. They wanted to practice magic, and they wanted to see if they could learn some of our 'Guardian moves'. I used to be against teaching moroi, especially my friends, to fight strigoi. I have changed since then, my whole world has changed. Dimitri and I agreed to help them, as long as they didn't go on strigoi hunting sprees. We told them this is only for self defence. We all knew that Victor was a good Earth user. We needed to go prepared, even if they weren't there.

We got some pillows off the bed, knowing that Adrian could help with the bill, and put them out in front of us, so that Christian and Alex could show us their best punches. "Fire away guys, hit us with your best shot" I smiled. Christian walked towards the pillow, and got in a stance that would help with his balance. It was just like what the guardian's had taught him and Lissa on their Lehigh trip, which turned into much more. He pulled his arm back, and swung upwards. I barely budged as he hit the pillow.

"I mucked that one up" He muttered. We all laughed, and he got prepared for another hit. Dimitri walked over to him and lifted Christian's elbow a little and demonstrated how to hit the pillow. Once he was done, Christian did exactly what was said, and swung. I was pushed backwards, only a little, and quickly regained my balance and smiled. "How was that?" He grinned. "That was much better" I smiled. "My turn!" Alex pushed past Christian and got in a stance, as Christian had shown. He got prepared to hit, and swung. It was a great punch, especially for a moroi. I ended up taking a step backwards just to stand up straight."That was great" Dimitri smiled. We all grinned at Alex, except Christian who just nodded.


	13. Chapter 13

_Hey guys, sorry about not updating for a while, I was hoping for more reviews! I'm not going to update until I have at least 20 reviews! Sorry guys, but I've written 13 chapters and I haven't had that many reviews. I need some more inspiration for this book so R&R!_

I got a message through the bond from Lissa. _Come try Adrian's first charm._ I immediately left the room with a smile on my face. Everyone followed me towards Lissa's room. I knocked on the door and Lissa opened it with a huge grin on her face. She ushered us in towards the bed and made us all sit down so that we could try out the charms. She had made me a necklace that would stop Victor or Robert from being able to use compulsion on me. She made rings for the others, and they all slipped theirs on.

I put my necklace on, it had a thin chain and a little silver cross hanging from it. Adrian walked over and was holding onto a bracelet, probably the one he charmed. "Liss, try testing them, use compulsion on us" I told her. "Not all of us at the same time though" I hastily added. She nodded and looked me in the eyes. She normally would have trouble using it on me anyway because I'm really good at ignoring compulsion. "Rose," She said smoothly, "Stand up and go into my bathroom" Her voice was silky but I didn't feel the urge to do what she said like any normal compulsion. She blinked out of compulsion when she realised nothing had happened. Now she had an even bigger grin, if that was even possible. She tried the same thing on Dimitri, Alex and Christian, but nothing happened.

After she was done, she took all the jewellery and put in on her nightstand. She gave Adrian a nod, and he handed me the bracelet. I slipped it on my wrist, but didn't feel anything. I realised I still had my shadow-kissed charmed ring on my finger. I slid it off my finger and waited to see what happened. Nothing, nothing at all. I didn't feel anything, no heat, no cool, just like a normal bracelet. The thing is, I suddenly felt like I didn't belong here. I felt like I should be somewhere, but I didn't know where. It's like when you're going somewhere, and you have the feeling you forgot something, except this is ten times worse. I stood up and started pacing around the room. Everyone looked confused. Lissa came over to me and pulled the bracelet off, and reality came back to me. I felt like I'd nearly been knocked out, there was a sudden pain that just wouldn't stop. Lissa and Dimitri were by my side in a flash when I was about to fall.

Dimitri walked me over to the bed and sat me down. I felt so dizzy, like I'd been spinning around for the last hour. Then Dimitri put my ring back on my finger. Everything suddenly put itself back together. I no longer felt dizzy, I no longer felt like I should be somewhere. Adrian looked grim, and gave me a look of apology when he met my eyes. Everyone else looked like they'd just seen a ghost. "Rose, are you okay. Adrian is sorry, what happened?" Dimitri asked almost frantic. I'd almost forgotten they were bonded, so I forced a smile and nodded. "I'm fine, I just need some rest. When I put on the bracelet I felt like there was somewhere I needed to be, except I didn't know where. When it came off I felt really dizzy. I'm fine now though" I told everyone.

Dimitri walked me back into our room and laid me down on the bed. I pulled the covers up and snuggled into the pillow. After a while I heard the door open. I knew it wasn't Dimitri, because he was sliding in next to me. It must have been Adrian. Poor Adrian, he must feel so bad.

That charm was so weird. It didn't hurt me, it was just weird. It's hard to explain magic, but that magic was strong. It hit me like a tidal wave when I put the bracelet on; it just wasn't a good tidal wave. I heard the bathroom door open and close. I needed to tell Adrian that it wasn't his fault; I don't want him to feel bad. My mind was running at a million miles an hour. I couldn't do this, I can't stand here-or lay here- and watch him in pain, all because of a stupid charm. When I heard the door open again, I jumped out of bed, and Dimitri did too. He didn't realise what I was about to do.

I walked over to Adrian and hugged him. He tensed, most likely because he wasn't expecting it. He slowly relaxed and I let go. "Adrian, it's not your fault. You didn't do that on purpose so stop feeling bad" I told him. Then another voice spoke. Dimitri's. "He doesn't feel bad about the charm" Dimitri told me. I took a step back, I was too shocked to say anything. I keep forgetting they are bonded as well. "He feels bad about everything else. He doesn't want to find Victor, he's afraid someone will get hurt. He's afraid that if they can't find enough evidence, you will be executed" Dimitri explained. His voice wasn't angry, it also wasn't sad. It definitely wasn't happy though. I flinched when he said the part about me being executed.

I looked at Dimitri and then back at Adrian. They both had miserable looks on their faces. It made me feel bad because I'm the one responsible for this. I walked back over to the bed and slid in. After a few more moments of silence, Dimitri joined me. I fell asleep after tossing and turning for what seemed like an eternity.

I woke up to Lissa's sweet voice. I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. Being on a human schedule, it was sunny outside. Lissa's platinum hair was done with perfect curls which must have taken a while. There was no sign of Adrian or Dimitri either. "Good morning" Lissa chimed. "I let you sleep in, everyone else is in my room. They are learning to fight if it really comes down to that. I wanted to wait for you, I want you to teach me, Rose." She explained. I was at a loss for words. The only time Lissa has ever practised fighting was on her Lehigh trip, and I was totally against it.

"Liss, you know I never wanted you to learn to fight" I started and she covered my lips. "I know that Rose, but please, just teach me" She pleaded. "Hey, I was just about to tell you that I've been thinking that it's actually a good idea!" I smiled. Lissa's eyes widened and she jumped up in excitement. She pulled the covers off of me and pulled me out of bed. I never knew how strong she really was, but she managed to get Rose Hathaway, badass Rose Hathaway out of her bed.

I went into the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and hair. When I came out Lissa had made the bed and gotten some clothes out for me. A blue tank top and some black slacks. She was sitting on the bed next to my clothes and handed me a little red velvet box. I knew she wasn't proposing when she handed it to me, but I was still shocked when I saw what was inside. It was a silver ring with little diamonds on it. It was so cute, and I slipped it on straight away. I actually felt the difference when I put it on, I felt my mood change and felt better.

"I've been working on that one for about a month, I can even see the power in it" She grinned. "It's gorgeous Liss, I can feel the change" I smiled and hugged here. I could feel through the bond that she wanted me to hurry up and get dressed so that she could get started with the fighting. I let go of her and grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom and got dressed.

When I came out again, Lissa was doing warm up stretches and I held in a laugh. It was so weird to see Lissa doing warm up stretches. "What are you looking at me like that for" She asked accusingly. "Nothing" I told her and gestured for her to get off the floor. I went over to my stake and grabbed it. I knew Lissa wouldn't need a stake, but I also knew she wanted me to teach her how to stake strigoi, even though she already knew. "Rose, I know how much the bond is giving away, but I just want to learn some fighting moves" She smiled. I put the stake down and walked over to her.

"Get in a stance like this, you should always be in a stance when punching, otherwise you'll lose your balance" I explained, showing her how to stand. I was all business now. Lissa copied after a few moments of examining. "Okay, now pull your arm back like you're about to swing" I told her. She pulled her arm back and I lifted her elbow a little so that it was in the right position. "Okay, make a fist and make sure it's strong" I told her. She made a fist and I tried to pull her fingers up to see how strong it was. I lifted them a little and told her to tighten her grip.

"Okay, so what now?" She asked. I stood in front of her and said "Swing" She hesitated and I could tell through the bond that this isn't what she had in mind. She didn't want to punch me and she definitely did not want to hurt me. "Don't hold back Liss, I know you can do this" I encouraged her. With the way she punched Christian the last time they were practising I knew this wasn't going to hurt much. She swung as hard as she could and hit me in the chin. It was a lot more painful than I'd expected, and it was the same for her. Her hand was killing when she dropped it by her side and forced a smile at me.

"How was that?" She asked sincerely. "That wasn't bad" I told her. I was being honest. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either. We continued practising for about another hour before everyone barged through the door. They seemed way too excited in these circumstances that I had to know what was going on. I looked at Lissa confused, and then I saw a smile creep up her lips. "You know something" I accused her. Lissa's smile just got bigger and everyone sat down on the bed.

A further look into the bond told me everything. The results were back for the DNA test. The tests got sent back quicker than we thought and all the guys went and bought phones for everyone. They also managed to get something we all needed. They got the number of Hans Croft. Hans and I were never good friends. He had become the leader of the group of guardians that are searching for me.

We were all handed our phones, and I was handed Hans's number. I wasn't ready to bargain with Hans Croft, so I told everyone that I was going to wait until we found Victor. We needed to find more evidence to get Victor into trouble for what I was accused of. I didn't kill Tatiana, but I was framed by my worst enemy.


	14. Chapter 14

_Hey guys, check out the poll on my profile and submit your answers. Without them I won't be able to continue. I hope you like this chapter, it isn't very long, but the next one will be! Enjoy __ BTW I need 20 reviews before they find Victor (Probably in the next chapter)_

Lissa had a brother, or half brother at least. Lissa wasn't happy about her father cheating, but she was happy that if Victor wasn't found guilty over Queen Tatiana's death, at least she could have a vote that could help. Our tactics for getting Victor needed reviewing. Lissa was ready with her charms, but she wasn't up to full strength. Either was Adrian. He finally told us that he had been sneaking drinks while everyone was asleep. We set up so that Dimitri and I would take night shifts to guard the moroi and make sure Adrian wasn't sneaking out. We organised them so that we would both get enough sleep, and be on watch for the whole night. We were going to go looking for Victor tomorrow, no matter the circumstance.

We spent another couple of hours teaching the moroi how to fight. It was mainly Lissa and Adrian because Sparky and Flame boy were practising magic. I doubt that all the money in the world would pay for the damage those two have caused to this motel room. By lunch time I was starving, I hadn't eaten all day, or last night for that matter. We decided that we would go out and get some fast food for lunch. Yum, greasy food is exactly what I need.

When everyone was in the car, even though it was very squishy, we headed towards a McDonald's drive through. I ordered a Big Mac and a large frozen coke. I also got an apple pie and some cookies! Yum, I missed McDonald's. Once the woman at the drive through got our order right, we drove up to the second window and waited for our food. Once again, we left it up to Adrian to pay up.

We all ate our food on the way back to the Luxor. It was great finally having a meal that was greasy enough to fill me up. I noticed when we got back how all the moroi's pale features were so much paler. Damn their stupid need for blood. On the way to our rooms I stopped everyone and made sure nobody around us was listening. "Liss, when was the last time you guys fed?" I asked. Lissa hesitated before answering. "About three days ago," She told me. "Liss, why didn't you tell me?" I asked and she just shook her head. I couldn't take her anywhere, or the others, that would allow them to be seen, so I needed to find some more people to do the job.

I ran down the stairs and over to the bar, hoping to find some drunken people. Why is it me who always has bad luck. The bar was closed. I needed to find some humans who wouldn't remember a vampire had taken their blood, so I needed someone that won't even remember that they even got drunk.

I walked out of the Luxor and walked to the nearest casino car park. Car parks seem to be the best place to find a bunch of drunk idiots, don't they. After about twenty minutes, a bunch of kids slammed a door open and ran out laughing hysterically. They looked drunk enough to me, so I walked towards them casually. They started whispering to each other and pointing at me, so I put on my best man eating smile.

"Hey, do any of you wanna' come to my motel room?" I asked. They all smiled and began following me back to the Luxor. There were three of them, the exact amount we needed. They followed me all the way up to my room and came inside. Luckily all the others were in my room so I pushed the guys onto the sofa. Christian was first to get his share in blood, then Lissa followed suit.

Alex took the third guy and after Christian finished, Adrian had his share. See, the perfect amount of humans. The guys I'd bought in didn't have the slightest chance of remembering everything that had happened from the looks on their faces, so I covered up their necks and took them back out to the parking lot. I ran back into the motel, hoping nobody saw me, and went back to my room. All the moroi looked much better, so I smiled when I sat down next to Dimitri.

"Thanks Rose, I'm actually glad you did something useful" Christian smirked. "Hey, don't you make any snide comments Sparky" I laughed. Christian didn't have any comebacks for that one. Score one for Rose, zero for Sparky. "Hey, I thought I was Sparky" Alex told me. I grinned, "Nope, you're fire-boy" I told him. "My name doesn't sound as cool as his, can't it be something like, I dunno, Flamo or something?" He asked. "Nah, that makes you sound like a three year old, but you do act like one don't you" I told him. "I'm not that much younger than you, I'm sixteen" He told me.

After we argued for another, well, I don't actually know how long but it felt like forever, we organised our strategies for tomorrow. They were still the same, but we needed to be as stealthy as possible. Lissa and Adrian would go in first, then Dimitri and I. Christian will be waiting out the back just in case Victor and Robert try to escape out the back door and Alex will be in the driveway just in case they try to drive away.

After organising everyone, Lissa bought in all of the charms. I put them in a little bag so that we could get them out and put them on when we got to where Robert lived. By this time, everyone was ready for dinner. We all headed down stairs and went to the casino restaurant. When the waitress came to get our orders, I got the same thing I had the last time we were here, and egg roll sampler. Adrian was about to order a drink, right before I said that we all wanted water. The waitress walked away and Adrian glared at me.

"Hey, I need a drink, I'm going crazy remember?" He told me. "Oh yeah, and from what I remember, you have an automated darkness taker" I smirked. Adrian didn't say anything after that. We all organised what time we were going to head off in the morning until our meals came. Mine tasted the same as I remembered.

When we were all done, we headed up the stairs and said goodnight before going into our own rooms. Alex had gotten comfy on the sofa in Lissa and Christian's room, so we didn't need to worry about him. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, so we needed to get a good night's sleep. I had a shower before going to bed, so when I hopped in bed, Dimitri was already in there. Adrian was already fast asleep by the time I was in next to Dimitri. I snuggled up right on his chest. I could smell his aftershave, and his warmth was what put me to sleep. My sleep was uninterrupted that night, and when I woke up, I was ready for anything the day would throw at me.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey guys, this chapter is longer than the others and is pretty exciting! Enjoy P.S I love all the reviews so keep up with the good work! P.S.S Please PM me if you have any ideas! I need inspiration. P.S.S.S I never got 20 reviews! You guys are lucky I put this chapter up!

Thanks to:

amberrosalie

mudkipluvr4ever

I managed to get my teeth brushed, my hair done, my clothes on and all my gear ready in about fifteen minutes. Adrian had already checked us out, so when everyone was ready, we were leaving. We had to be ready for anything.

We all met up in the lobby, where there was chaos, people running around late for flights and people arguing. It was the perfect place to meet up because it would be hard to spot us in a huge crowd like this. Alex and Christian were the last down with their bags. We headed off towards the car park and threw our bags in the trunk. Once again it was squishy when we all finally fitted in the car. We sat in silence until we reached the same service station that we stopped at last time. Lissa got a map out for us to look at. There were several dirt roads out here in Red Rock Canyon, but a few that really stood out.

We put the coordinates in the GPS and headed out there. Once we reached the road, there were several houses along it. They all looked pretty modern. We drove down the road slowly looking for a cabin like house. There were none, only modern homes. We put in the next set of coordinates, and the next. It wasn't until we'd been driving almost an hour that we found what we were looking for. The road we were on was deserted, and only one house stood down it.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, we revised our tactics. We parked the car at the end of the long driveway behind a couple of trees, so nobody would even suspect us coming. We stealthily headed down the long driveway in the sun. The moroi were okay for the walk down the driveway, but too much sunlight would wear them out. We put on the rings Lissa had made, and Christian headed around the back of the house while Alex stayed in the driveway, ready to use his magic if needed.

Dimitri, Lissa, Adrian and I headed towards the front door. Everything seemed so quiet, I was afraid nobody would be here and this would all be for nothing. When we reached the door, we all stood still and waited for any sign that there were people inside. We heard a creak come from inside the house, and that was our cue.

Dimitri kicked down the door and Adrian and Lissa ran inside. Dimitri and I stood in the doorway, but we heard nothing after that. We stood still for several seconds until we heard Lissa's voice. Dimitri nodded and I ran towards her voice. I knew exactly where she was because of the bond, and after I took a few steps, I saw Dimitri run in the direction Adrian went. The perks of being shadow-kissed.

I found Lissa in what must have been the lounge room. There was a television and two recliners. In front of Lissa was a human. They were laying on the floor with a scary expression. A little closer observing allowed me to see that they were still alive, they had just been drained. Who'd of thought two moroi would need so much blood. Lissa was talking to herself, she was telling herself not to go any closer. She wanted to heal the man laying there, almost dead. I took a step closer to her and grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She jumped when she noticed I was next to her.

There was suddenly voices coming from somewhere, and with my dhampir hearing, I took Lissa towards where the voices were. We reached a cupboard and I slowly opened it, ready for anything. Except there was nothing, nothing but a mop and some pillows and blankets. I felt Lissa summon a little bit of magic, she was looking for auras. She didn't know what Victor's aura was, but she could definitely sense another spirit user.

She looked at me, eyes wide, and pointed to the back of the cupboard, just as Dimitri and Adrian reached us. "There was a human in the other room, almost completely drained" Dimitri explained. Adrian looked at Lissa with his eyes just as wide as hers had been. "They're in there. We can sense them" Lissa nodded towards Adrian. I moved some of the pillows out of the way and found a door at the back. I slowly opened it, being as quiet as I could. There was a little creak, and I noticed the voices stop for a moment, then pick up again.

We headed in, the voices getting louder and then softer. The tunnel we were going through seemed a lot like when we were in Spokane. It was so creepy with the candles on the walls around us being the only source of light. We finally made it to a fork in the tunnel. We also noticed that there were no voices coming from inside anymore. Dimitri and Adrian went one way, and Lissa and I went the other. We reached a room, it was brighter and it took a while for my eyes to adjust. There was an office chair on the opposite side of the room, and after I heard a gasp from Lissa, I knew who was sitting there. There was a laugh, then the chair span around to face us-how original, this was like a spy movie. Victor sat there with a smirk on his face, and he slowly stood up.

He began to walk towards us, and as he did, I pulled Lissa back behind me. He was staring at her intently. Victor turned his head to face me, and his smirk got bigger. "Rosemarie, I thought you'd never arrive" He greeted me. I really didn't like where this was going. 'I knew you'd be able to help me lead the moroi to a new beginning. First, you broke me out of a maximum security prison, and next you allow me to frame you for a death. The Queen's death" He told me. I felt like punching him right then, but I held back, I wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Why did you do it, you know that as soon as the guardian's get you, you will be sent straight back to prison." I said more to myself than him. Lissa was looking between us every time we spoke, almost like a tennis match. Victor's smirk turned into a smile. "Well, now that I have Robert to help me, I can do almost anything" He laughed. "You can't do that to him, you can't abuse his powers like that!" I was almost screaming now. Victor started laughing again. "I'm not abusing his powers, I'm merely getting help from him" He said. "Yeah, just like Natalie" I said. His smile turned into a frown. "Let's not get into Natalie here, it was her choice." He mumbled.

I heard some more footsteps and quickly shot Lissa a look. She knew what it meant straight away, she looked Victor in the eyes and I felt the magic build up in her. "You will follow us out of the house and to our car, you won't argue and you won't try to run" She said in a soothing voice. I didn't know how she could stay so calm in a situation like this. Victor was doing a good job of ignoring her orders, but after Lissa put a bit more magic into her compulsion, his eyes finally glazed over and he began to follow us towards the exit. When we finally got back, we ran to the back door. We opened it to find Christian with flames dancing on the tips of his fingers. He was actually taking this seriously. He put the flames out when he saw us and Victor.

We began running to the front of the house where we saw Dimitri holding onto Robert. Adrian mustn't have been able to use compulsion on him. They all saw us and began running back to the car. This was so much easier than I thought. Dimitri was dragging Robert along while Christian and Alex were running beside Victor, just in case he broke the compulsion. We reached the car and put Victor and Robert in the back in between Adrian and Lissa. This was gonna be hard to get everyone in.

Luckily, the trunk was big enough to fit two moroi. Christian and Alex hopped in without argument, which was quite amazing actually. Dimitri and I were in the front and once we were all in with our seatbelts on, Dimitri sped down the road until we reached one of the main roads. We got back to Vegas pretty quickly after that and went to the same place we went when we had Victor just out of jail. We went on the same private plane that we were on when we smuggled Victor out of Alaska.

We got a one way flight to St. Petersburg, where we would be driven to Baia. Once we got there, we would get the DNA results off Olena, and fly back to, you guessed it, the Royal Court. That would be where the verdict would be decided. If we did this all for nothing, and I end up getting... executed, well, there is always a chance that Dimitri may become a guardian again. We have more proof that he isn't strigoi, because if he was one, wouldn't he have killed us all by now?

Once we'd all boarded the plane, we arranged a seating plan. Dimitri would sit next to Robert and I would sit next to Victor. Alex, Christian, Lissa and Adrian were sitting in the aisle across from us. The flight seemed to take forever, mainly because all the moroi, except Victor and Robert, fell asleep while we had to be on guard and make sure that Victor wouldn't escape. Not that they'd just freefall from a plane without parachutes.

When we finally arrived, we went straight to the car hire. We managed to get a car that we'd all fit in, comfortably at least. Once again, Dimitri and I sat in front, Lissa and Adrian sat beside Robert and Alex and Christian sat all the way up the back with Victor. They were a lot more squished than everyone else, but I didn't care.

We arrived just before morning, for a human that is. We were going to get the results and then get straight on a flight to Pennsylvania, where we would drive straight to the Royal Court, the place where my fate will be decided. We got to Olena's house and I let Lissa go and get the results. We already knew what they were, but we still needed proof. I slipped into Lissa's head to see Olena and her family for, maybe, the last time.

Lissa was waiting at the door. Viktoria answered and gave Lissa the results. She gave Lissa a quick hug and whispered good luck. She waved towards the car and Lissa turned around. I was looking at myself. I was also subconsciously smiling and waving back to Viktoria. Viktoria ran back inside closing the door behind her, and Lissa began heading toward the car. I quickly slipped back into my own mind and rested my head back against the chair and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Dimitri asked. "Well, this may just be the last time I will get to see everyone, your family, I mean" I told him. "Rose, how many times do I have to tell you? I will protect you no matter what. They will not hurt you, I won't let them" Dimitri told me, then looked back at the road ahead and started up the car. Lissa put her seatbelt on and we drove off toward the nearest airport. We caught a plane and started on our trip back to the Royal Court.

The next day was hell. We had to catch another plane from Seattle just to get to Pennsylvania. I didn't want to go back so soon. My life has nearly ended several times, but this time is different. I don't have a choice if I don't have enough evidence. When we finally landed in Pennsylvania, we had to force Victor and Robert into our car. I nearly had to be forced in there too, I wasn't ready for this. The court was less than twenty minutes away, and if I didn't have enough evidence I wouldn't be able to do this.

When we reached the gates, all hell broke loose. The guardians on duty were almost hysterical, they had two wanted criminals, three spirit users, Lissa's alleged sibling, Dimitri, and Christian. The guardian on duty called for back-up, even though he didn't need any. We weren't going to try anything, except maybe Victor and Robert. The guardian told us not to get out of the car, which was quite stupid because of what Dimitri was about to do.


	16. Chapter 16

_Sorry it took so long for me to update! I had to go somewhere on the weekend without my laptop __ Anyway, here is your long awaited chapter!_

_Please review! I hope you like it!_

Some people like to drive themselves to their goals, just like Dimitri, but he did it literally. His goal was to get us into the safety of the wards and into the Royal Court, and he did just that. Dimitri smiled at the guardian, then put his foot on the gas. He drove straight through the gate and sped to the guardians building. I noticed that there were a pile of guardians getting into an SUV but as soon as they saw us get out of our car, they started running towards us.

I recognised the guardian that jumped on me. He'd helped me get evidence that strigoi could be bought back to life, and as he did that, I got _him_ evidence that strigoi could be bought back, and that evidence was standing right next to me. Tomas, he was in love with Sonya Karp, who turned strigoi willingly to stop the side-effects of spirit. Tomas went after her, just like I did with Dimitri, but he had to stop when he couldn't find her. Here he was now, looking me in the eyes with a look, one that was so emotionless, that all guardians had.

The guardians took us, Dimitri, Robert, Victor and I straight to the prison cells. We were in different cells, but we were right next to each other. "Your trial is about to be held, Rose. They want to get this over with as soon as possible so there is no chance of you escaping again" Tomas explained to me through the bars. I could sense Lissa; she was in a room with Christian, Alex and Adrian. They were being questioned while Lissa tried to tell them Alex was her brother. I slipped into her head as I sat on the bed. I was scared.

"Princess, I know you want to get a vote to help Rose, but you can't lie to us" Hans explained. Hans was the, well, leader of most of the guardians. He allocated each guardian their moroi, usually with help from the queen. Lissa reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to Hans. He opened it and read the results, the results of the test. He re-read them several times before looking between Alex and Lissa. "Well, if this is true, which I'm guessing it is, we need to keep it confidential. We don't want to bring any shame to the Dragomir's with everything that is going on." He eyed Lissa.

I slipped back into my own head when I heard a door open. I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They finally came to a halt in front of my cell. It was Hans. He must have been pretty close to have gotten here so quickly. "Miss Hathaway" He snorted "Your trial is being post-poned for at least another hour, we have, some, well, you would know if you used you bond" He explained. I just nodded, I couldn't do anything else, and I couldn't say anything. Hans walked over to Dimitri's cell and opened it up. "Mr. Belikov, we believe you did have a part in this, but the Princess insisted you be let out" Hans explained. I knew Lissa wanted Dimitri out, and I was glad he was out of here. Lissa needed him to organise what evidence they'd tried to collect to get me out of trouble.

I did want Dimitri to stay so I wasn't lonely anymore, but I knew when he walked past my cell, the look in his eye, I knew he would get me out of this. He told me over and over again he would protect me, and right now I believed he could. I heard the footsteps slowly disappear down the hall, and when the door opened and closed, I knew they were gone. I slipped back into Lissa's head once again. She was still in the same room with Christian, Alex and Adrian.

The door suddenly opened and everyone turned around to face Dimitri and Hans. "Here he is, now, hurry up" Hans grunted. "Dimitri, we have proof! It was Victor, he even owned up to it!" Lissa said more to Hans than Dimitri. Hans shook his head in exasperation. Thinking of Victor, what if he told everyone that we were the ones who broke him out of jail? We would all be in prison ourselves if that happened. "Princess, we have no proof that it was Victor or his accomplice, all we know is that there was a substance on the stake, and it was a glove substance. I believe Rose didn't do it, but we need more proof. If Victor will own up to it right now, that would be great, but he wouldn't do it in front of the Royal Council, would he?" Hans explained. At least he believed it wasn't me. "Guardian Croft, I believe Rose didn't do it, and why would she anyway? She wouldn't leave the murder weapon or any trace she was there if it was her. She's smarter than that and you know it. It wasn't Rose, everyone should know that!" Dimitri yelled. He started off calmly and caught everyone off guard when he began yelling. I knew Dimitri believed I didn't do it, but having him saying that made my heart flutter.

I came back to my own body with a start when I heard the cell door open. It was Tomas, and the other guardians had Victor and Robert. "The trial, it's starting. The Princess and the others are heading over to the high court." Tomas explained. I just nodded and followed him out of the building. He was kind enough not to cuff me, probably because he knew I wouldn't try to run off. I was even having ideas about running off, but I don't think I could take down all the guardians surrounding me.

We made it to the High Court in a few minutes, and I was taken in before Victor and Robert. The pews weren't filled like they were for my first hearing, but I knew they'd want to keep this quiet. After a few more minutes I noticed Lissa, Christian, Adrian and Alex come in. They sat in the first row of seats and Lissa was sending me calming messages through the bond. _It's going to be okay, we will get you out of this._ I wasn't feeling okay though.

After a few minutes the council was in session. An elderly moroi got everyone's attention. "The High Royal Court is now in session" He called out. Everyone stopped talking and I noticed Tasha Ozera sitting in the front row next to Lissa. "We are now discussing the trial of Rosemarie Hathaway, and the murder of Late Queen Tatiana Marina Ivashkov." He explained. My heart sunk, I was going to die.

"We will now discuss evidence proving Miss Hathaway guilty" The dropping of my guardian title made me feel miserable. "Weeks ago, Queen Tatiana was found dead, murdered, with a stake through her heart. On the stake were Miss Hathaway's finger prints, and the stake belonged to her" Another moroi began. "There is no proof that Miss Hathaway was with someone at the time of death, therefore she has no alibi." He continued. Damn. "We will now have a word from Miss Hathaway's lawyer" The elderly moroi said "Ibrahim Mazur" A few whispers went around the room as my father and lawyer, Abe Mazur. I saw him as a Turkish gangster.

"I have proof that Rose wasn't the murderer!" Abe called out among the audience. "Everyone here knows about how smart Rose is! Why would she leave the murder weapon? Everyone here knows she wouldn't do that" He called. He looked at the royal council and walked towards them. "If you were to execute a girl of so much talent, you would be ridding a guardian, a worthy guardian actually. You all know Rose is shadow-kissed, don't you? I have been doing some studying and have been finding more and more information on her, well, predicament. If she died, the Princess would have to give in to the side-effects of spirit and would become, well, insane" He explained. Everyone flinched at the word insane.

"We will be having questions from the audience now" The elderly moroi spoke up. Tasha Ozera was first to ask a question. I smiled at her courage, and knew if she had a question it would help me. She looked me in the eye "Rose, you were with Adrian Ivashkov the night of the Queen's murder, weren't you?" She asked and answered her own question "Because of that, we do have an alibi, sort of." I think the adding of 'sort of' kinda' blew my chances of getting anything done.

The elderly moroi spoke up again "Can we have Lord Adrian Ivashkov stand" He asked. Adrian gave me a look of pure horror. I knew he didn't want to have any more gossip going around about his escapades, but he wanted to help. "I was with Rose on the night of the murder" Adrian told everyone. There were a few whispers when he said that. "How long were you with Miss Hathaway?" The moroi asked. "The whole night" Adrian answered. "You may sit down now" The moroi told him. "We know that when you went out on your little escape, Miss Hathaway, you took three royal moroi, one of whom being the Dragomir Princess, and Mr Belikov" He explained. I felt like I should have said something but I kept my mouth closed. I didn't want to make a scene, not today at least.

"You could have had any one of them killed, especially when you went after a wanted criminal" One of the Royal Council members exclaimed. I think it was one of the Badica's, but it's hard to keep track of who's who in royal politics. I took a step forward "The reason we went after him is because Queen Tatiana told me he was the one who killed her, him and his brother, Robert Doru" I explained. That caused a lot of whispering in the audience, and then the Ivashkov Prince stood up. "I heard seeing the, uh, ghosts of people you knew that have died is one of the side effects of being shadow-kissed" he told everyone. Now this was going somewhere.

"Yes, it is. I can also sense strigoi and be in Liss- Princess Dragomir's mind. I can see what she see's and feel what she feels" I explained. Dimitri stood up in the crowd and quickly added "You also take away the darkness, the side effects of spirit" He said, eyes blazing. "Sit down!" The moroi called. I felt a little smile come across my face. It disappeared as soon as it came. I took another step forward and told everyone something that could help me "Dimitri Belikov," I pointed toward where he was sitting "is also shadow-kissed. While we were gone, we came across a band of strigoi. He was killed, and Adrian Ivashkov bought him back" I explained. I was hoping this could get me more proof that spirit is real, and that seeing ghosts is a part of it. Everyone looked at Dimitri spreading whispers across the benches.

"Order!" The moroi called. The whispering stopped instantly, and then a few more people from the royal council asked me some questions. It felt like forever before the elderly moroi judge addressed the court. "We will now have a royal vote' He called. "We also have another royal on the council, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir" He called. I quickly checked the bond, and while I'd been answering questions, Hans had spoken to Lissa. He'd told her that she would be on the royal council, but nobody would know about her having a brother. They were going to tell everyone that the rule had been reviewed and that you didn't need an actual family to be on the royal council.

"The rule has been reviewed, and now we have all twelve royal families." He explained. Lissa smiled at me as she walked up to the empty seat where the royal council sits. She felt like she could do this, she thought she could get me out of this, and I believed she could. I loved Lissa, she was like a sister to me, and I'd known her since pre-school. Her parents had always been kind to me, and when they died, Lissa and I had become even better friends. First with the bond, and now that she can do anything for me. She would do anything.


	17. Chapter 17

_Sorry it took so long to update! I hope you enjoy! BTW check out my other story, St Vlad's gets IM! It has a fair bit of swearing just to warn you, but it is very funny!_

"Wait!" Someone called out from the crowd. Everyone looked towards a moroi who looked like he was in his mid-forties. He had dark brown hair with little bits of grey starting to appear, and he looked like a janitor or a servant by how he was dressed. "Please do not interrupt" the judge called in an attempt to gain order, because right now I think everyone in the room was whispering. It quieted down after a few moments and the same moroi, the one who had called out, pushed his way up to the front. When he finally reached me, I heard the judge sigh. I guess he couldn't be bothered with any more interruptions.

"I am so sorry I didn't speak up earlier" He began, looking me in the eyes. All eyes and ears in the room were on him now, waiting to hear what he had to say. "I didn't want to be involved in this mess, but the Queen, Tatiana, before she died..." He trailed off for a moment, and everything was silent, I guess the Queen's death must have been overlooked at my first hearing. At the mention of her name then, the whole room would be in chaos. "Well, I was hired by the Queen, and she asked me to keep a close eye on you, so I would be in your building every night making sure you didn't try to leave. There was also someone on the other side of the building, making sure you didn't try to get out the window. Neither of us saw you that night, the night of the murder. We saw you enter the room, and Lord Ivashkov, but we never saw you leave" He explained. I felt my mouth open, and I was about to start yelling, asking why he didn't speak up sooner, but my protests were put on hold when the judge spoke again.

"Are you sure of this, sir?" the judge asked. The guy nodded "My name is Jeffrey, Jeffrey Didac" He told the judge. "Well, if that is true, who was the other, uh, one hired by the Queen?" The judge asked. "He didn't want me to tell you his name, he wants no part in this" Jeffrey explained. The judge just nodded his head. "She has an alibi, but the vote is still going to be held, just in case you are lying. If you believe Miss Hathaway isn't responsible, you better hope you have convinced some of the council" The judge gestured to the council, which Lissa was sitting at, smiling at me weakly.

Jeffrey walked back to his seat, pushing through the crowd and causing a lot of whispering. I didn't feel happy that I had an alibi, I was angry that the Queen set up people to spy on me. I kept telling myself to calm down, because when they put me in my cell, they took away my jewellery. My charms were somewhere and the darkness was getting to me. I just needed to stay calm, and wait to see what happens with this vote. Lissa was sending me soothing messages through the bond which helped a little, but just one person couldn't get me out of this mess. I needed at least seven people to vote I was innocent before I got out of this mess.

When the judge spoke, I felt adrenaline rush through my body. This was a matter of life and death, this would decide my fate, would I die, or would they let me go unharmed? "The Royal Council will now vote either for, or against Miss Rosemarie Hathaway. We have hard evidence, which is: Miss Hathaway's stake was the one that the Queen was murdered with, and Miss Hathaway's fingerprints were found on it. The evidence against Miss Hathaway being the murderer, are the fact that she has an alibi. She was with Lord Adrian Ivashkov just after the Queen had been murdered, and was allegedly being 'spied on' by two moroi hired by the Queen herself" The judge explained. "We will now hold our vote" He called out to the audience.

Everyone in the council picked up a pen and wrote on a piece of paper, and as they did, I closed my eyes.

This could be a dream, or a nightmare. I opened my eyes just as the votes were being collected. I looked into the crowd, and let my eyes linger on Dimitri's. We could be together after this, after all this was finished, we could be together dead or alive. He was shadow-kissed, and if I died young, he would be able to see me more clearly. We could be together, but not for as long as we could if I survived this. Dimitri believed I could, so I did too. I looked at Tasha and forced a smile. Tasha had been great to me, and so had Christian. I looked at him and gave him a nod. Then there was Adrian, he would be torn if I was executed. I looked back at Dimitri as the judge read out the verdict.

My life flashed before my eyes, I remembered Lissa and I when we first met in pre-school, then I remembered the accident and what happened afterwards. I remembered everything with Miss Karp, the partying, the bond, Lissa and I running away. Then I remembered the night when Dimitri came to get us. I remembered my training with Dimitri and falling in love with my mentor. Mia, Lissa and Christian, Victor and Natalie. Spokane, Mason, Adrian and the ski resort. The mana, Jessie and Ralf. Dimitri and the cabin. The rescue mission, losing Dimitri, leaving the school to find him and get him out of his state. Meeting Mark, Oksana, Olena, Viktoria, Karolina, Sonya, Yeva, Paul and Zoya. Finding Dimitri and almost killing him, the trials, breaking Victor out and meeting Robert. Finding Dimitri, or him finding us, and Lissa bringing him back to his original state. The Queen's murder, and me being framed, up until now.

"The results of the royal councils vote will now be read out" The judge called out. "Ozera, Tarus, Ivashkov, Badica, Conta and Dragomir voted Miss Hathaway innocent that means Dashkov, Drozdov, Szelsky, Zeklos, Lazar and Voda voted Miss Hathaway guilty. This mean we have a hung vote, which the strongest royal family can swing. At the moment, the Dragomir blood is crucial, so Miss Dragomir may swing the vote her way, which is that Miss Hathaway is innocent" He explained. I felt a smile creep across my face, I was getting out of this mess alive. "Miss Hathaway has been found innocent, we will be having further investigation on this case but for now, we will allow Miss Hathaway her freedom. Her room will be under surveillance and she will not be allowed out of her room alone" The judge explained. Lissa was excited that they were finally letting me go, and relieved that they allowed her to swing the vote. It felt like it had all ended so quickly when the guardians took me back to my room.

Lissa had to stay back with the Royal Council, but Dimitri was allowed to come with me. Apparently, while we were gone, everyone started to believe that he was a dhampir again, so they have allowed him to come alone, rather than with an army of guardians. When we got back to my room, Dimitri and I walked in and I locked the door. I ran over to Dimitri and kissed him deep, but soft. Our kiss went on forever until he finally broke off and whispered in my ear "I love you Roza".


End file.
